Of Uchiha Blood and Tasogare Tears
by CI-KiteWolfling-NYPD
Summary: Long ago, Konoha made a dangerous enemy out of the Hidden Night Village. Now Yorugakure is back on the map with a fresh lineup of genin, just in time to be faced with the sandsound alliance against Konoha, not to mention the chuunin selection exams
1. Sound, Snake, and Night

_Yorugakure-the Village Hidden in the Night_

_Time-unknown._

"There's no use in trying to be quiet!" Shinri said quietly, coming to a dead halt in that dark, ominous forest, "I can sense your chakra, not to mention the beating of your heart."

Out of the shadows, materialized a slender Otogakure genin. It was Kin

"That's right, a little trait of the Hebigiru that i overlooked!" She tutted, shaking her head in mock pity. Kin was dressed and primed for battle, looking ready to make a kill.

Hebigiru Shinri gave a humorless smile, "One thing you should learn is to never overlook anything about your opponent. Now, why don't you run along, now, before i kill you?"

"You don't intimidate me, snake!" Kin snapped defiantly, jamming her hands in her pockets.

"You sound ninja are all alike." Shinri stated with no emotion, not even doing his challenger the favor of facing her, "You don't know what's good for you. Crawl back to the hole from where you came, and give Lord Orochimaru my regards."

"Don't even get started, Hebigiru!" Kin stated, her hard glare boring into the back of Shinri's head, "I'm not your message runner, and everyone knows you'll never follow your clan into allegiance with our master. Your weak."

"Yorugakure is off the edge of the map, my dear!" The snake ninja hissed, a wild gleam in his eye as he whirled around to face Kin, "HERE THERE BE MONSTERS!"

Quicker than even Kin's keen eyes could follow, Shinri had fired off the signs for the boar, monkey, rat, and snake in quick succession.

"HEBIOKU NO JUTSU!!!"He cried, "ART OF THE SUMMONED SNAKES!!"

All at once there were snakes everywhere, creating a bizarre sort of writhing carpet for the forest floor. There were snakes of all sizes and colors, with various signs of elements painted onto their backs, each animal strikingly different. About a half a dozen of the larger ones immediately coiled around Kin's arms and legs, holding her immobile. The snakes wriggled and moved on their own account, yet still under Shinri's control, a never ending pit of scales.

The snake ninja in question was perched on the head of the largest animal, his hands coolly in his pockets, not a care in the world. His mount was a monstrously large King Cobra with it's hood spread, and the symbol for wind decorated on his face.

"Do you like my little friends, here?" Shinri laughed, that mad glint still in his eyes, "Oh, my dear, there is no use in struggling, though it does whet my appetite so!"

"Orochimaru was right!" Kin spat, hardly able to breathe, "You are like him!"

At that, the snakes binding Kin wound even tighter. Shinri was feeding off of the mixture of fear and spite in Kin's eyes. His eyes were narrowed as he said in a low, poisonous voice,

"Let's get one thing straight, my dear little sound ninja. I will NEVER be like my father, you can be sure of that. I know where my loyalties lie, with the winning team."

At that moment, Kin would have said something clever, but she couldn't breathe. Shinri looked positively diabolical as he stood there, a true cold blooded killer, a ninja to the core. He had no consciousness, no real sense of right or wrong, which made him all the more dangerous. He gave a mad grin, and the snake he was riding on moved in even closer to Kin. Shinri said-

"By the way, Kin, i just thought you might like to know that we in Yorugakure know all about the alliance between sand and sound, and you can be sure that we even now are preparing to tell Konoha all about it. I imagine that Lord Orochimaru suspected this, and sent you to polish off the only set of genin in our village that might actually pose a threat? A shame you were sent to try and kill me, since as you can see, the tables are turned!!"

Kin was choking, and her eyes were starting to roll back into her head when all at once there was an echoing cry in that forest.

"SHINRI!!! Who are you victimizing, now?"

Out of nowhere stepped another of Yourgakure's genin, Seiroyuki Makuro. He was dressed in an outlandish outfit, resembling a wrapped up mummy in a robe rather than a deadly ninja of the Village hidden in the night.

He folded his arms across his chest, and said, "Maybe my memory is skewed, but i did think that Yorukage Yoake told us to keep a low profile."

"I am keeping a low profile, oh 'one who is folded in linens'" Shinri said delicately, using the literal translation for Makuro's clan name.

Both boys were acting as though Kin were not there, holding their conversation like they were in class. Shinri continued, "Before you showed up, there would have been no witnesses. Besides, she came after me, first. i didn't go after her."

Makuro frowned, not believing it for a moment..

Shinri penetrated the boy with a look that would have stopped any other ninja dead cold.

"If the sight of blood bothers you so much, Seiroyuki, then look away if you must." Shinri said blandly, the taunt in his voice barely hidden. Makuri caught it, but chose not to comment on it, something that was generally a wise idea.

"What are you guys doing?"

A females voice rang out over the forest, and with a soft, 'CRACK' there was suddenly a slender blonde haired ninja among sound, snake, and night.

"Wonderful." Shinri muttered, "The cavalry has arrived."

The girl adjusted her hitiate headband, and gave Shinri a level glare, "I heard that, snake-charmed. For gosh sakes, what is going on? You can hear all this way back at the village!"

"Not all of us have super-sensitive hearing, Tasogare." Shinri said quite carefully.

Tasogare Satora took in the scene with the many snakes, and arced an eyebrow, "And not all of us can sense chakra. The poor girl, all she was doing was trying to collect information for her Snake Lord, and then mean old Shrinri jumps on her!"

Both boys gave Satora a look that screamed, "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?" Before they realized that Sato was merely wielding her sarcasm again, one of her less endearing traits. She was pretty enough, with a well formed face, unmarred by scars from the life she had chosen. Her outfit was simple, yet attractive. Khaki pants, and a black long sleeve shirt. Sato carried very few Ninja tools, but she didn't need them. She was a Tasogare, which was reason enough for certain someone's back at the village to hate her guts.

"Oh, that was a joke by the way, chaps." Sato quipped, taking a few steps closer to the mosh pit of snakes. Kin was already dead. Sato sighed as Shinri undid his ninjitsu, and the snakes vanished. The young ninja went to Kin's side, and said with resentment, "For Gosh sakes, Shinri, why do you always have to kill with the finesse of a butcher? I wanted a crack at her!"

"The reason is simple, tasogare." Shinri said coolly, his hands still in his pockets, "When you kill, it's no fun, or a challenge. When i kill ,it's an art."

"If you wanna call a load of snakes an art." Sato muttered, ripping the hitai-ate from Kin's dead form, and twining it around her wrist.

"It's a lot more fun than a legion of shadows flying in and leaving the body a mangled carcass of flesh." Shinri fired at his cellmate, his fists clenched.

Sato rolled up her sleeve, and pointed to the symbols all up and down her left arm, cruel runes cut into her skin at birth. The scars shone with chakra all the time, the color always depending on what mood she was in. Now they were throbbing a deep crimson red.

Sato's face was curled in a snarl as she spat, "HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU, SNAKECHARMER! DON'T CHALLENGE THIS LEGACY! MY CLAN IS THE ONLY REASON THAT YORUGAKURE IS BACK ON THE MAP OF THE LAND OF FIRE!"

"Oh, i know." Shinri stated calmly, "And rest assured, were it not for the ties of this village that bind us together, i would have killed you already."

Sato's lip was curled, "Tried. You would have tried to kill me. You know my kind can't be killed."

Shinri drew a Kunai knife from nowhere, "Let's test that Tasogaryn myth, shall we?"

Sato channeled her Chakra, and her palms began to glow with a pale fire.

"ENOUGH!!!" Makuro shouted. Two linen strips shot from his body, lancing for each of the two genin faster than any eye could follow, holding them in place, and stopping them from attacking each other. Try as they might, Shinri and Sato could not break free.

"When will you two put your differences aside, and work together for the good of the Village?" Makuro demanded, anger in his voice, "Sato, yes, we know this whole plan with sand, sound, and leaf is about you! Shinri, we know how you feel about that. We know how the Hebigiru was Yorugakure's most prestigeous clan before the Tasogare fled here from Konoha...we all know the story, since you two are the only members of your clan who WON'T LET IT GO!"

"Well, how ironic!" Sato panted, still fighting with all her strength against Makuro's strange Kekki Genkai powers, "WE BOTH ARE THE ONLY ONES LEFT IN OUR CLAN!"

"That's quite enough from all three of you!" Another quiet voice came from the depths of the forest, the fourth person to drop by that night. The three genin recognized the voice, and were stopped cold. It was smooth and filled in the jagged cracks of their raucous conversation with ease. There was only one ninja in Yorugakue with a voice like that.

Makuro let the other two go, and the two in question left all traces of their fight behind as they snapped to attention.

The tall woman stepped into the light of the full moon. She was wearing the habit of a Yorukage, for that was what she was. There rose from about her an air or command, of power. This was Yoake, the leader of the Village hidden in the night, and also the cell leader of Makuro, Satora, and Shinri.

"I am ashamed." She said simply. The three formidable teens hung their heads like little children caught in the middle of doing some taboo act.

"We're sorry, mistress Yoake." Sato said humbly, her face still pointed at her toes, "But it's not my fault that Shinri here is a freaking WORM..."

Shinri couldn't take any more. He let his Kunai fly across the clearing at the girl, knowing in his heart as he did so that it would be in vain. Sure enough, even without taking her eyes off of their sensai, Sato snatched the kunai out of the air inches from her face.

She threw Shinri a bizarre sort of sideways smile. "That makes eight times you've tried to kill me, snakecharmer, and eight times you've failed."

"STOP!" Yoake barked, and the kids were shamed once more. Yoake glared at the three of them in turn, though the heat of her gaze rested longer on Sato and Shinri, "You know the importance of teamwork for this mission to sucseed! If you cannot allow your personal bickering to take a backseat, i will have no choice but to terminate you from the plans...permanently."

"We ALL understand, Yorukage." Makuro said. Here he gave Shinri and Sato the evil eye, "I hope i speak for all of us."

"I hope you do to, Seiroyuki." Yoake said. She nodded, "I am off to konoha to put into action the first part of our plan. I will be in touch, and don't kill each other when i'm gone...and i mean it!"

With that, their sensei was up and away.

"Maybe now we could train together for the upcoming battle?" Makuro said hopefully,

Though in the back of his mind, he had a feeling what the response was going to be.

"FREAKING SNAKECHARMER!!" Sato fumed.

"WORTHLESS TASOGARYN!" Shinri shot back.

Both Shinri and Sato vanished into the shadows to stew in their own messes for a while.

Makuro looked over Kin's dead, headbandless form, and sighed a deep, long, sigh. Their cell had always been like this, Shinri and Sato hating each other for reasons that went back further than any in the Village could remember, and Makuro stuck in between, trying to keep the uneasy peace for the sake of the plan. Moody Shinri, and proud, proud Sato.

'and where does that leave me?' Makuro thought morosely.


	2. A solemn Oath

"Tell me, Yorukage.." The Lord Hokage said, teeth clenched around his pipe characteristically, "How is it that you and your village are so quick to offer us aid? After all, we are the Village who…."

"Killed off our most powerful clan, simply because you felt you were threatened?" Yorukage Yoake finished bluntly. Yoake was a no nonsense woman, and had to be as disciplined as they come to keep the position she was at. At the moment, her eyes were narrowed in intense dislike as she penetrated the Hokage with her most poisonous glare.

The Hokage paused, not daunted by the venom in the woman's voice. To her, she was just a child, but he regarded her with caution, as one would a five-year old with a kunai. Yoake was nothing more than a young woman with enough power to wipe out a small nation, certainly one of the greatest shinobi ever to come to be. She had chosen a difficult path, but the Hokage thought that it suited her. The difference in their age was great, but the difference in their power levels not so.

"Yes…" The Fire lord mused after a spell, not meeting Yoake's gaze, "And I am not proud of what my predecessor did, you can be sure of…."

"Save it, Hokage." Yoake snapped, her arms folded across her ample chest, "I'm prepared to let bygones be bygones…after all, the wound you rendered us has been healed. That is to say….there is one Tasogare left."

The Lord Hokage looked up, alarmed.

"What's this?" He gasped, and for one of the few times in his long life he look completely and utterly at a loss for words. Yoake suppressed a wide smile with difficulty.

"Satoshi Tasogare's daughter survived the attack you made all those years ago. The girl is one of our genin, in a cell under my charge. Let me assure you, she is the most skilled in the way of the Tasogare that I have ever seen in all my years! Of course, should anything ever happen to out last Tasogare, and it somehow points to Konoha, I would be forced to withdraw Yorugakure's support in the coming war between sand, sound, and leaf. Rest assured, Lord Hokage. I did not come here to warn you of the sand and sound alliance, and to offer you our support in vain."

'_Yes, so I see.' _The Lord Hokage thought with a touch of sadness, "_Can't even the simplest of tasks be carried through in these dark times without one party or the other being manipulated? In offering much needed aide to us in this time of trial, Yorugakure is ensuring the safety of the only person that can possibly bring about the demise of every village in this land!_ _Put that on top of the other two genin under Yoake's instruction, and the Village hidden in the night has much more to gain than Konoha!"_

"I can sense your hesitation." Yoake said, taking a step closer to the Hokage, "And it is understandable. After what you did to us in the past, you may find it hard to believe that we would be so quick to forgive, and to forget. And not to mention that your so called ally, Sunagakure has turned on you. However, our offer is sincere. You may not think it possible, but secret roots of pain and betrayal grow deeper in sand and sound than in leaf. Consider this a token of my village's agreement."

From the folds of her robe, Yoake produced a severed human head, holding it unceremoniously by the hair, which was ratty and caked with blood. The Lord Hokage forced down a shudder of revulsion as the Yorukage placed the grisly thing on his desk.

"It was from the Otogakure genin, Kin." Yoake said, no emotion in her level voice, "Hebigiru Shinri, one of my genin, er…retrieved it."

"Otogakure will be aroused!" The Hokage said quietly, still staring at the head of the girl, "You realize this? You think sound will stand for this outrage? One of their own?"

Yoake's mouth broke into a demonic smile, "Oh, I know. That makes it so much better."

The Hokage raised his gaze, and peered intently at Yorukage Yoake, "Konoha accepts your aide, and hopes that it will be as true as the rising sun."

"Always." Yoake said solemnly, then continued swiftly, "I have spies placed in both the villages of Suna and Oto, poised to kill any number of rather important persons therein. What is our first move?"

The Hokage forced himself to examine Kin's severed head. Her face was almost unrecognizable, with long and deep cuts, but those features were still there. An even closer look revealed that her once so pretty face was twisted in what must have been agonizing pain.

He sized up the young Kage in front of him.

"No more unessesary bloodshed," He said plainly, "Not yet. Konoha and Yoru will wait."

"WAIT?" Yoake hissed, her countenance twisting, and turning dark, "WAIT? Your life is in danger, as are the lives of every man, woman and child who call you Hokage! Have I not told you before how far along the plans of sand and sound are to bring this village down? One of your jonin is DEAD!! What could you possibly be waiting FOR?"

The Hokage was silent for a moment, lost in thought. He rested his chin on his interlocked fingers, and thought about the Yorukage's words…and remembered all those that he loved.

And how he had felt when the news of Hayate's death had reached his ears.

"Very well, Yoake." He said eventually, " Sand and Sound will very soon know the wrath of leaf and night!"

Yoake smiled once again at the hidden meaning in the Fire Shadows's words, "And what other genin do you want us to polish of first, Hokage?"

The Fire Lord felt a flame from the olden days rising in his heart as he narrowed his eyes, and spat, "Surprise me."


	3. The plot thickens

Seiroyuki Makuro was the only one waiting for Yoake in the dark Yorugakurene clearing, and did not in the least seem startled when the young woman dropped out of nowhere, and landed lightly not three feet behind him.

"Greetings, Yorukage.." The lean genin said, turning on his heel, and dipping his head respectfully. Not only was this woman his sensai, but she was his village leader, not to mention the lady of the land of night, and he would show her the respect she deserved. Yoake looked weary, which was something new on Makuro. He also found it interesting that she was in no way trying to hide said weariness. In fact, his normally so strong and dynamic sensai opened her mouth……and gave a great yawn.

"I've exhausted enough charka to…I dunno what .." Yoake huffed in way of telling Makuro not to worry about her. She looked around the clearing, and raised an eyebrow.

Makuro open his mouth to give an answer to the inquiry that he knew was coming, but Yoake raised a slender hand, and cut him off swiftly.

"No need to tell me where the other two are, since I think I can safely conclude what happened. Sato and Shinri couldn't stand each other, and went off on their own for a while."

Makuro smiled slightly behind his linens, "Yes, that's exactly it. How did your mission go, sensai?"

"As well as could be expected."

Yoake shrugged off her voluminous Yorukage's robe. She wore it as little as possible, for being first and foremost a seasoned ninja she knew that such garb was probably the most motion hindering piece of clothing she could ever have been wearing. The most she could do was wear it only when necessity called, and even then with great reluctance.

Yoake gave a little sigh of relief to be free of the enveloping folds of fabric. She flipped off her wide hat, and shook her long blonde hair down.

"Never become Yorukage, Makuro!" She said distantly, abandoning both robe and hat on a low bough of a tree, "Unless you intend to drown in a never ending sea of cotton."

"I'm not planning on it, sensai." Another smile tugged on the corners of Makuro's mouth. He wasn't normally so amused, but there was an easy, casual air around his sensai all the time that was infectious, even when she was weary.

Unless she was angry, like the last time Makuro saw her. On the whole, though, Lady/Yorukage/Sensai Yoake was an easygoing ninja.

In a village so small, everyone wore several hats, so to speak. Even the Yorukage.

Yoake pulled a hair tie from her wrist, and in a few deft motions, had her mane of hair tied back in a more practical manner. Were it not for her position as Lady of the Land of Night, it would have been cut back to a more reasonable length. You see, it was 'in fashion' for the feudal ladies to have lengthy hair. Not like Yoake really cared what was in fashion, but she knew she had to keep a face up to get everyone's respect. Being the youngest Kage ever in the history of that world, she also knew that there were a lot older and a lot wiser people in her village that wouldn't object at all if Konoha made another raid, and declared another Yorukage.

_It happened once, its not going to happen again. _She thought waspishly, _Good luck getting rid of me, Yorugakure. Jeez, what would I do without the love and support of my people….._

She looked up, and transfixed Makuro with a slight grin, "Rubbish, all of it…"

Makuro smiled yet again, and did not press into the matters of Yoake's conference with Konoha's Hokage. She would tell him when she was ready.

Sure enough, Yoake nodded, and gave the genin a small, wicked grin, "Everything is set. Konoha has accepted our aide."

Makuro nodded in return, "Did the two of you make any plans?"

Yoake's mouth spread wide and a mad look kept into her ice green eyes, "You feel up to a journey to Sunagakure?"

"ROADTRIP!!" An echoing voice hollered from above their heads.

All at once, Satora Tasogare was among them, dropping down out of nowhere, yet presumably from a tree. Her presence enough to make Makuro and Yoake feel as though they were in the midst of a crowd, for her energy was so great.. Sato looked vibrant as always, but was it possible for a human to glow, she would be glowing.

"Do you think I didn't know you were hiding up there?" Yoake said dismissivly, pointing vaguely in an upwards direction, "I could hear you breathing like you were in a 20 mile race. Without your 'Shadow Art of Hiding' you're about as stealthy as a herd of elephants."

Sato was in no way offended. Rather, she actually started bouncing on her heels.

"So….Yorukage, how did it go?"

"I don't think I need to tell you anything, since you already heard it up in that tree." Yoake said, flipping the young Tasogare a characteristic grin.

Sato shrugged, still bouncing, "Whatever…yeah, you're right. But I was actually trying to sneak up on Kuro here…"

"I couldn't hear you…" The genin admitted, shifting his weight, "But I could sense all that charka coursing around in you like mad."

The Tasogare stuck out her lower lip in a pout, "I hate you're Kekkei Genkai, Kuro!! It makes everything so…." She stuck out her tongue, and giggled.

Yoake surveyed the pair of them. They got along famously, pensive Makuro, and blustery Sato. Satora had so much power in her…it all had to do with the fact that she was a Tasogare. There was no challenge that Yoake could devise that Sato wouldn't be able to scale, and then demolish. The unfortunate thing was that Sato knew this fact as well. She couldn't be bothered looking into the powers and habits of the ninja of Sand and Sound for the duration of the plan, since she was absolutely convinced that because she was a Tasogare, (the most lethal and deadly ninja ever to walk the earth), she wouldn't even have to spend five minutes in the ring with them before they were dead. Gone. Poof.

Once again…..unfortunatly, she was right.

And then there was Makuro.

As ninja go, this Seiroyuki ninja was incredibly passive. He couldn't be brought to killing unless it was absolutely necessary. He preferred to use his strange Kekkei Genkai powers to hinder and maim, but not kill. Makuro was constantly and effectively breaking up spats between Sato and that Shinri, using his calm, eloquent words more than his powers. There was much skill and talent in the linen clad genin than what even he himself would have liked to admit.

Sato wiped the childish look off of her face, and traded it with one of wicked anticipation, "OK, Yorukage. Seriously-are we going to Sunagakure?"

Yoake thought swiftly to herself for about ten seconds, the said curtly-

"I need several things to happen at once. I need you two to go to Sunagakure…and polish off genin cells two and three. I only want cell one to make it to the finals, and you know which one. We won't have to worry about the sound village genin for now….like us, they have only one cell in this exam, but _unlike _ us, they are expendable to Orochimaru."

Makuro was in no way swayed at this grim proclimation, but he seemed a little confused, "Pardon, sensai, but the other two sand cells aren't really all that much of a threat to us. Why not get rid of Baki's cell while we're ahead, and then let Suna squirm in the mud with the remaining two cells, and try to scrape their plan together?"

"Come on, Kuro! Use your linen wrapped head!" Sato laughed, giving her friend a shove on the arm, "Everyone knows that Suna only cares about the cell with that Gaara freak in it! He's the star to all their evil wicked plotting! My guess is that they'll let anything go that we do-as long as that precious sand rat ain't hurt."

"Satora is right, in a sense." Yoake admitted rather reluctantly, "I don't want any loose ends, and that's what those other genin cells are. Suna will of course suspect foul play, and the chief part of this mission is that you kill the genin in such a way that it points to Konoha."

"Got it!" Makuro said, nodding.

_Pause……_

"Wait…_what_?" Makuro cocked his head, "We are _allied_ with Konoha! Why would we want to pin the blame on them? Wouldn't that shatter the plan into a million separate pieces? I'm sorry, sensai, but I see to many logical flaws in this plan!"

Yoake smiled again. Makuro was a sharp one, but he needed to get things implanted firmly into his mind. Once that was done, it would stay there, no problem.

"Do we have to spell it out for you?" Sato exclaimed good naturedly, flashing her teeth.

Makuro ignored the jibein the girls voice, and set his teeth.

"Would you, please?"

"Sunagakure and Otogakure know we're back on the map." Sato stated matter of factly, as though explaining something to a two year old, "They will, of course, expect that we will join them in attacking the leaf village when the time comes. Since we are in fact now allied with Konoha…ok, listen carefully here, Kuro. We must put up every appearance to want to join their charade, thus getting on the inside of the operation. That puts us at an even better position to give Konoha all the information that they need! _That's why we have to pin the blame on Konoha, so we're in the clear to get in the midst of their little operation! In doing that, we are helping Konoha! By pointing the blame on the leaf village, it will intensify sand and sounds need to wipe them out! Intensifying the fire is good for us and Konoha, but BAD for Oto and Suna, once all is said and done!!! GOT IT? ???????"_

Makuro rubbed his temples. Sato and Yoake waited for a moment, knowing what was going to come.

The genins head popped up, and he seemed to radiate knowledge, "GOT IT. Its all a chess game…who can outmaneuver who… Sand and Sound don't know it, but already we and Konoha have them in a checkmate."

He glanced at Sato, and finished grandly, "Since our queen checks their king."

Sato grinned, "I knew you'd get there, bro!"

"Just on thing…."

The Tasogare heaved a great sigh..

Makuro gave his sensai a level look, "Does the Hokage of Konoha know about this? That you are going to pin the blame on his village in order to make sure things work out alright? If you don't tell him, you know then that _he _is going to suspect that our alliance isn't true!"

"We don't want that, now do we?" Yoake cracked yet another sneaky grin, "I am going to have a chat with an old Konoha friend of mine, who will pass on the message."

"Why not go right back to the Hokage?" Sato asked curiously.

Yoake shot an evil glance at her robe and hat, still resting insidiously on that low branch, "I am _not _getting back into that get-up! You know what to do, you guys. This is an A triple plus ranked mission. Failure is not an option."

"What about Shinri?" Makuro questioned.

Yoake paused, and then said softly, "He's to loose of cannon right now, torn between his loyalties. You may have noticed it, but seeing Kin, a genin from his former village really shook him up. When Shinri gets shook up, he takes it out on….stuff. I don't think right now is the best time to give him specific orders, and expect him to obey them. Jeez…I don't even know where he is, and I don't want to find out."

Sato and Makuro exchanged dark glances. They knew as well as anyone the foggy past of the clan of Hebigiru.

"Well…I guess you two should be getting on, then!" Yoake said cheerfully, "Remember, kids. An 'A' triple plus ranked mission. You know what to do. Good luck."

"Thank you, Sensai." Makuro dipped his head again.

"Pssh…" Satora laughed long and hard, tossing her head, "Like we'll need it!"


	4. A late night encounter

In Konohagakure.

Time..!2:45 AM

"There you are, Kakashi!" Anko tisked, putting her hands on her hips and glaring. The tall lean jonin calmly strolled the length of the Konoha bridge, and came to rest next to his fellow ninja.

Anko kept that stony look on her face as she continued, "Where were you? I was waiting for over an hour!"

"I had things I needed to do." Kakashi said calmly in his characteristic way, leaning against the railing, "Oh, my. Doesn't the moon reflecting on the water look pretty…"

Anko didn't even look, instead she narrowed her eyes at Kakashi, and intensified her look of death. She _had_ been watching the moons reflection in the river for the past two hours. Now she gazed pensively across the river at the dark Konoha forest. What secrets did those treacherous pines have to hide from her?

Anko softened her gaze, and sighed, "OK, Kakashi. You're here, at least, and that's good. I have a message from the Lord Hokage. Earlier this night he called me and Roeki to his office. You know we are proctoring the next part of the exams.."

"Yes, get on with it." Kakashi's voice was curt, now.

She marveled at how a man who was over an hour late for a meeting could snipe at her about drawing things out. She let it go, however. Their friendship was solid, yet at times could be a little hard to discern. Anko was the charismatic one out of the two, while Kakashi preferred to do most of the listening.

"Anyways…:" Anko took a deep breath, "Here it is. He told us that Yorugakure is supposedly allied with us again, and that there is one Tasogare left….who happens to be in a genin cell bound for the second half of the chunin exam."

Kakashi noted Anko's bitter use of the word, 'Supposedly'

"I still can't get over how our friend Yoake is styling herself as Yorukage!" Was all he said in reply.

Anko knew that she shouldn't have expected any sort of tremendous emotional reaction to her statement, but she still felt a little miffed.

"Only the three of us know that Satoshi, Satora's father has come back to life after that invasion all those years ago." Anko said darkly, gripping the rail with enough force to make her knuckles white, "Not even his village, so since they think he's still dead, Yoake was the next natural choice, so really, she's not, 'styling herself.'"

"mmm…" Kakashi seemed entranced with a pair of late nighting ducks swimming down the river. He gave a slight yawn, and turned to Anko, "You know how dubious I am about that rumored Tasogare power, Anko. Chances are Satoshi just plain _didn't_ die back then in that fight, and now that he's out of the shadows, he's milking his so called revival for all the legends are worth. I know that the Tasogare have incredibly unheard of stamina…but to be able to come back to life? It's all a bedtime story for children."

Anko shot her fellow jonin a look of death, "Kakashi, I would have thought that you of all people would be the most alarmed to know that Yorugakure is back on the map, and that Satoshi is still at large. OK, maybe he didn't come back from the dead, but regardless he's still here. Don't you know what that could mean for you, and for your cell?"

"Of course I know." An edge crept into Kakashi's voice, "I've taken care of it. And we killed Satoshi once, we can do it again."

"Satoshi and maybe his daughter are going to be out for you and that Uchiha's blood…and we need you both a live for what's coming."

"I'm not worried, like I said; it's all been taken care of."

Anko rolled her eyes, "Do tell."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly, "Can't you see it? Yorugakure is protecting itself as well as us with this alliance. Both of our trump ninja are being spared from the other. No one will let Sasuke kill Satora, since Konoha needs Yorus support if the rumors of an invasion are true…and Satora won't kill Sasuke because of our new friendship with night."

"It all seems fishy to me." Anko frowned, "We killed off Yorugakure's best clan…and now they're turning around to give us help? Can we even know that Suna and Oto are even plotting anything?

"I've seen it coming for years." Kakashi said. That decided it, "And you know how Yoake thinks."

Anko gave a hoarse, bark of a laugh, "From what I remember of her, she didn't, much."

"Yoake has changed." Kakashi's voice grew darker, "She is calmer, more calculated. She knows that someone doesn't stay Yorukage without showing some stuff, and is acting accordingly. You wouldn't believe the difference."

"You still love her, don't you?"

"I'm going to choose to ignore that." Kakashi plowed on, "Now that we know about the Sound and Sand alliance against us, we can work against it, see?"

"What if Night is actually _with_ Oto and Suna? What if we're just being used in some greater plot? What if…..oh, to heck with it."

"You never could take things at face value, could you, Anko?" Kakashi gave a faint smile to his old friend, "And I know why. You've seen the worst-you've seen how deep the roots of treachery and betrayal can run. It's all in your eyes, and in the scar on your shoulder."

Instinctively, Anko grabbed for the mark on her shoulder. She would only allow a select few to speak to her of the mark…and even though Kakashi wasn't one of them, she let it slide.

"I don't want to see Orochimaru win." She said in a passive voice, letting her hand drop back down, slowly, "He is so foul…the very idea of anyone allying themselves with him is just repulsive. He's been in Konoha once before…and I never want to hear of it again. No decent ninja would ally himself with that snake…"

"This is why the ninja of Yorugakure will never join him." Kakashi's smile widened, "You know this as well as I do-The Night ninja may be rather manipulative, but they all have good hearts. Why do you think Konoha felt so bad after that attack? I'll tell you-they knew that Yoru didn't deserve it."

"The Tasogare were a threat." Anko growled, "We were justified."

"We were NOT justified, Anko, and you need to see that. The entire village needs to see that. Yorugakure has seen it, and they have forgiven. And the Tasogare weren't a threat-if Yorugakure wanted to take over the land of fire, they would have by now."

"Yeah…yeah, I know it." Anko dropped her gaze, "I-alright. You win. Spread the word of the alliance, Kakashi, and make sure that it's an actual Konoha ninja before you spill the beans."

"And how did you know it was me?"

"Anyone else would have shown up on time, Kakashi." Anko gave a smile, and her round face lit up, "Now get out of here. I have an exam to procter in two days, and I need to make sure that everything is set up."

In Anko-speak this means.. '_Go and do whatever you have to, but stay safe since I really care about you deeply, more deeply than I would like to admit_.'

Kakashi gave a small wave, "Toodles."

_POOF! _He was gone.

In Kakashi speak, 'Toodles' means…..well…'_toodles._'

Anko sighed to herself, and walked away.


	5. Plotting on the battlements

By day Sunagakure was a bustling urban village, but at night it was a realm of darting shadows and pounding hearts. The land of Wind is not known for being hospitable to strangers, and this was no exception. Bitter and vicious winds were sweeping in from the north, battering against anything that was in its path. They would grab hold of whatever loose sand was on the village ground, and whip it with a stinging force at anyone who had the misfortune of being out this late.

Activity was always being monitored by the Lord Kazekage's choicest ninja, nothing could take place in that mound of sand that the kazekage didn't know about.

Except on this night.

There were two shadows flickering out on the village wall, as though they were alive. They seemed to be more defined, even darker than the other shadows surrounding them. They quivered for one moment, and out of the darkness sprang two stealthy genin, landing catlike on the battlements.

As one, Satora Tasogare and Makuro Sieroyuki crouched low, ducking out of rang of vision from the guards at the next tower. Suna's wall system was built similar to Konoha's in quite a few way's, so all their scoping of the village hidden in the leaves was paying off.

Makuro sank down to the sandstone walkway, and crossed his legs. He gave his head a slight shake, and he whispered, "Your dark energy is as frightening as it gets…never swallow me up whole like that again!"

"My Shadow Art of Hiding is the only way we can get into this joint, Makuro, you know it!" Satora grinned playfully, and poked her friend on the shoulder, following his suit and squatting, "Buck up, Sieroyuki."

"There will be much weeping on the marrow in Suna." Makuro deadpanned, "This mission is right up your ally, eh Sato?"  
"I guess." Satora shrugged, "Let's get going."

"Wait!" Makuro caught Sato's arm, as she started to rise, "We need a plan!"

"Why?" Sato wrinkled her nose, "We go in, kill off the rest of the cells. Not really all that challenging if you think about it."

"Weren't you listening to what else the sensai told us to do?" Makuro asked gently, knowing that Sato most likely had no idea what he was talking about, "We are supposed to leave evidence that it was Konoha's doing."

"How exactly are we going to do that?" Sato questioned, "We can't really just leave a Konoha Hitai-ate headband somewhere, right?"

She sat back on her heels, and waited. Makuro was the strategist in their cell, he would come up with something smart..something brilliant..

"I got nothing." Makuro admitted, scratching his linen clothed head.

Sato let all the air out of her lungs in a loud hiss of frustration, "Come on, Kuro! It can't be that hard! We kill the genin, who else is Konoha gonna think? Suna wouldn't think that we would have the power to take out their genin, and they know Sound wouldn't do it.."

"We have already had this conversation, Sato." Makuro stated blandly, giving Sato the look, "And if I recall correctly, the sides have switched. Ah, well. We'd better get to work. Chances are this mission isn't going to be as easy as you make it out to be."

"How cum?" Sato pulled out a kunai, and began to stab an imaginary sand genin, "We find them in their little beds, and slit their throats! What's so hard about that?"

Makuro shifted his position slightly so that he could peek over the battlements, and get a look at the inside of the village. He continued as though he had not moved at all "If you would brush up on your knowledge of the world, Sato, you would know that Sunagakure is known for manufacturing ninja in order that they are instruments of death. The military is all Sunagakure cares about. It would be like owning a company that crunches out a hundred of little yous every five minutes. Its not going to be like killing civilians—Suna houses some of the nastiest ninja in the entire land of wind."

Sato reveled in that for a few minutes while Makuro closed his eyes, and thought to himself for a while. Satora was defiantly an asset to any mission, what with her powers and overall skills, but if she didn't see get to do much killing, she would normally rearrange things until she could. On a delicate mission like this that involved both the killing, _and _ the thinking (Which wasn't one of her strong suits), things could get a little hairy with everyone's favorite Tasogare.

"What's the plan, Kuro?" Makuros thoughts were shattered.

"We go in…we scope the place out." The mummy genin said, a strange light coming into his painted eyes, "I haven't been home for quite some time, they may have changed where things are, and that might seriously hinder our mission."

"I want to see your house, Kuro!" Sato sounded like a little kid on a field trip, "Whereabouts in Suna did you live?"

Makuro felt once more like a parent reprimanding a small child, "Sato, we can't worry about that now. Besides, its probably not standing anymore, its been a long time like I said."

Satora began flipping her kunai up and down in the air, catching it with practiced skill, "We'd better go in and do this thing, then. Scouting it is, but you'll need to let me cloak you with my Hidden Darting Shadow Jutsu unless you want to tango with all of Sunas manufactured baddest."

Her words were light, but her tone was heavy. Sato was finally getting serious. Makuro patted his friend on the leg, "I don't want to tango, but I know you do."

Sato smiled, "Brace yourself."

She rolled back her sleeves, once more bearing her runescars to the moonlight. Right now they were glowing an excited Green with flecks of blue. Makuro could not tear his gaze away from them. They were shimmering and bright-pure chakra energies. Sato had so much chakra coursing unchecked through her that when she was born in Yoru, they had to cut runes into her arms to allow the energy to flow out. She was a pool of chakra energies, and they kept on regenerating to no limit.

Sato formed the sign for shadow with her left hand, and grabbed Makuros arm with her left. Her eyes burned white as she hissed, "_HIDDEN DARTING SHADOW JUTSU!!"_

Makuro opened his eyes. As he looked himself over, nothing about his body had changed, but he knew that anyone standing right next to him would not be able to see him or sense his life force. In fact, Makuro could not even sense where Sato was. Thanks to Satos powerful jutsu, he was in a different plane of reality, unable to be touched, yet able to touch everything. It was one of the Tasogare's more powerful ninja moves, and was the way that they killed most of their victims back in the day. It allowed them not to be affected by an enemies attack (Not like it could get through anyways), but still gave them the power to unleash their devastating shadowy powers.

Back before the Uchiha killed them all.

"Let's go, Makuro!" Sato already had one leg hooked over the edge of the battlements, and was poised and ready to fling herself off into the unknown, "Jeez, with all your talk of being swift and silent, and getting this done, you sure take a while!"

"Sorry," Makuro rose to his feet, and did the same as his friend, "I'm still just getting used to the idea of not existing in this reality anymore."

Sato laughed, "You'll get over it. Shall we have a race? Who can kill the most genin by runrise?"

"Right now we're only scouting, Sato…."

The young Tasogare gave a little pout, "After that, then?"

"No.."

"You're no fun anymore, Kuro!" Sato grinned. She gave a salute, and leaped over the battlements and into the village.

Makuro shook his head, and followed.


	6. Where do our loyalties lie?

_Otogakure_

_Time-12:30_

The night time was Shinri's time.

It was his domain, where he felt more alive than he ever did during the hours of the day. He stood alone in the Otogakurene forest, legs spread shoulder length apart on a wide bough. That forest was not unlike the one in Yorugakure-same dark disposition, same style of towering, dominating oak. However, there was something satanic and sinister about these woods that the tainted forest of yoru did not have…

Shinri closed his eyes, and leaned his head back, and concentrated every fiber of his being into drawing in his surroundings. He knew there was someone close, but for some reason he couldn't smell them in the air, or sense their chakra.

A chill of anticipation ran through him, and he gave a wicked smile. There could only be one person, then,

Eyes still closed, the snake ninja called out, "You Oto Shinobi never learn, do you? Come on out, Orochimaru!"

That unbidden shiver threw itself down Shinri's spine as Orochimaru stepped from nowhere onto the branch next to him. Shinri fought the urge to whirl and plunge a knife into the belly of the great ninja.

"You're getting better, Hebigiru!" Orochimaru hissed in his strange, grating voice, "Soon you will be as good as I am…"

"Count on it, master." Shinri turned, and faced the ninja. He couldn't hide the dislike in his eyes, and did not at all try to mask it. It was useless for the two of them to hide emotions. They were snakes. Everything was laid bare out in the open for the other to see.

"Everything is according to plan, then?" Orochimaru asked.

"That it is." Shinri said slowly, choosing his words carefully, "This entire night has been nothing but checking plans. Yoake brought their first stage into play a few hours ago, and all I've been hearing about it, '_did you get this done?' _or, '_have you talked to this person?'"_

"Makes you glad you're on the winning team, doesn't it?" Orochimaru's snakelike eyes narrowed rather threateningly. It was not a question, and underneath the hissing in Orochimaru's smooth voice was a definite challenge.

"I'm not expendable, so don't give me that." Shinri said rather coolly, refusing to be rattled,"You know what side I'm on, and it doesn't bother you, and it sure as bloody heck doesn't bother me. You need me, like I need you. Don't try any of your intimidation crap tricks on me."

Orochimary nodded, and seemed rather pleased. He gave an animal like hiss, and his tongue snaked out over his serrated teeth, "Excellent. What other news can you tell me?"

"Not much-this all started just a few hours ago." Shinri continued in his cool and unattached manner, "You must have known that too-let me guess, this meeting you called wasn't to gain information about Yoru's plan, it was to see if I'd answer your beck and call right, Orochimaru?"

The snake ninja cocked his head.

"Enough of this!" Shinri snapped. He lashed out with his left hand faster than any eye could see, and rived Orochimaru through the heart with his fist.

_SkrLLch,….._

Blood spurted all over the young genin as he tore his limb from the jonin's dead form. The genitsu fell away, and the stocky oto ninja who had been impersonating Lord Orochimaru dropped like a stone to the forest floor below.

Deliberately, and without any change of expression whatsoever, Shinri licked some of the fresh blood from his fingers.

"Tastes like coward." He murmured, licking his lips

"Good one, Shinri." Yoake's voice drifted down from above, "Glad you saw through the genitsu..i was getting worried!"

Shinri did not jump, but he could not mask the surprise in his voice as he craned his head back, and called, "Sensai-how long have you been there?"

"Long enough." Yoake dropped out of nowhere, landing catlike on the bough where the sound jonin had been standing not seconds before. She was wearing her traditional ninja outfit, no yorukage formal robe here. The young woman flashed a grim smile, "Good work, but I don't think the real Lord Orochimaru will be all that pleased."

"Like I told that guy-" Shinri waved vaguely down towards the ground, "Orochimaru knows I'm not worth killing. And regarding your earlier statement….no need to worry."

"You just ran a man through his heart with your hand." Yoake deadpanned, cocking her head, "I think I have a small reason to be worried. You're a good actor, Shinri. Sometimes I think you're too good."  
A long silence passed between the two of them. Finally Shinri broke it.

"You and I both know how delicate my contribution to your scheming is. How can I fully carry out the charge you laid on me if you keep babysitting me all the time? You know where my true loyalties lie, Yoake. And you know where they dare not tread. Can't you leave it at that?"

"I wish I could." Yoake poked Shinri in the chest, and scowled, "Your heart is dark, but true to your village. You are quite slippery and sly enough without me throwing you too deep into this pond. I may have a mind to pull you out of this."

Shinri narrowed his eyes, "You're saying you might cancel my mission because you fear I might take it to seriously? I thought you wanted me to!"

Yoake pursed her lips, "You're walking a thin line with this whole thing, Shinri. Out of us all, you are the most likely to end up dead. No matter what you say with the whole, '_Orochimaru won't kill me, he needs me' _You still don't get it. The snake lord needs nothing, He needs no one. He may not totally and truly know what goes on in your heart, but rest assures he will not hesitate to kill you."

Another silence passed between genin and yorukage.

Shinri glowered for a few seconds, then changed the subject.

"Where are the other two?"

"Out on a little mission that should keep them busy till dawn." Yoake's mood suddenly flipped like a coin, "Why? _Awwww!!!! _You _do _Care!"  
"I do not!" Shinri spat, crossing his arms. Yoake's frequent mood swings were a constant source of annoyance to him,"I just don't want them getting in my way tonight."

"Chances are they wont." Yoake answered, "And If they do you'll have to deal with it. You know as well as I do that you three need to work on your teamwork." Yoake paused, "This isn't the time for a sermon, even I know that. Let's get out of here before the alarm is sounded. Orochimaru may have expected you to see through that genitsu, but I don't know if he was expecting you to kill that man."

"I'm sure he was." Shinri said levelly, "He would have killed him."

"I'm not gonna dignify that one with a response." Yoake's hands found themselves in the monkey position, "Like I said-lets get out of here!"


	7. The Demon of the Sand

The moonlight broke through the clouds, and cast its ethereal glow on the village of Sunagakure. There were two figures moving seamlessly together in the dark shadows cast from Suna's large buildings, taking leaps and bounds without an ounce of predictability. One figure had a cool, upper hand style to its movements as it easily scaled each and every obstacle in its path, while the other was jerking here and there with a desperate, frantic rhythm, like the mouse getting the best of the cat. The calm and collected figure was leading the other farther and farther away from the heart of suna, out more into the suburbs.

It was a dance of death that Sato knew well, and one that she knew all the steps to. Her hands were clasped neatly behind her back as she sidestepped first this way then that, flawlessly avoiding kunai thrusts from her assailant. Her feet were sure with every bound they took. Each foothold was secure. Although she had never been to Suna before in her life, she was now traversing its pathways like a native.

"Oops!" Sato said sweetly to her lunging pursuer as the kunai barley brushed the flapping hem of her shirt, "Almost got me there!"

She launched herself in the air once more, spun around, and landed a roundhouse kick to the side of the sand genins head.

He gave a weak cry, and pummeled to the earth. Sato gave a loud and raucous laugh of spite as she followed her prey to the ground.

The stocky, well-built genin slammed into the ground hard, but rolled twice and was up in a flash before Sato could even fix her hair. He was one genin that refused to lie down and die-all the others had been painfully easy to slay. At least this was a challenge.

He had no real special attributes to him, justu wise. Just a maddening ability to dodge every shuriken and kunai she sent his way.

She fell gracefully into a battle ready position as he pulled from his belt another handful of throwing knives. She hadn't really been trying. All night she hadn't once used her Tasogare powers, instead killing with her natural stamina and strength. This battle, however, had gone on long enough. The genin had fought hard and long. He deserved to go out with a bang, and with something special.

"_Kagerichu no jutsu! Art of the Shadowblades! TASOGARE FORM!" _

The rune scars up and down Sato's arms glowed with a fierce red light as the girl called her devastating powers to bear. All she had time to see was the shocked and surprised look on her quarry's face before he was enveloped in a sea of ripping, cutting shadows.

Sato dusted off her hands, "A good nights work, eh, Kuro?"

"He fought well." Makuro commented openly, stepping out from the shadows in one bound, "An honorable opponent."

"Psssh.." Sato tossed her head, "Hardly."

Makuro frowned, "You couldn't hit him with a knife."

"He couldn't touch me!" Sato shot back, "I wasn't really trying, Kuro, in case you weren't watching closely."

Makuro had been watching closely, and once more was impressed and intimidated by the sheer amount of power in the young girl. She had killed most of the genin cells on her own while her stoic cell member watched blankly. Even now there wasn't a trace left of the ninja she had been sparring with not five minutes beforehand. The most astonishing thing was that Sato had pulled off this feat without once breaking a sweat, loosing her cool, or even using her arsenal of devastating Tasogare Attacks, save for that last move there.

Sato smiled. She was in a very good mood, "I'd say our work here is done, eh Makuro?"

"Don't move." Makuro whispered softly, his entire body going rigid. His linen covered mouth barley moved, and his voice suddenly dripped with urgency," For gosh sakes Sato, don't more or breathe."

"What?" Sato followed her friend's gaze, and stopped short, "Oh crap."

Gaara of the sand stood above them, perched on a telephone pole. His silhouette was ghastly and grim against the white backdrop of the full moon. The two Yoru genin could feel the heat from the young man's gaze as he glared down on them with a powerful force.

"Why are you killing them…?" He whispered in that strange, guttural voice.

Sato felt chills running up and down her spine, unbidden. She had heard all about this demon in her own village, but never thought that she would be meeting him face to face like this. She certainly never thought that he would be this bone-numbingly terrifying. What was in that gourd?

Sato cocked her head, and did her best to play tough. She returned Gaara's look of death, and said in her best flippant voice, "Sorry about for your friends there, mate, but they had to go. We're making way for something bigger to come through.."

"Sato, you idiot! Don't!" Makuro hissed, seizing his friend on the arm, and holding her tight, "We can't mess with him! Every taunt you make to that guy is a nail in our coffins.."

"Why are you killing them?" Gaara repeated, and he shifted position slightly. Both Kuro and Sato made sudden defensive moves. They were both on edge with this new stranger.

The sand genin's eyes narrowed, and he continued, "Its my job to kill them..to kill them all…."  
"Sorry about that too, then!" The rune scars on Sato's arms were starting to glow a faint red, indicating that the young Tasogare was ready to spring into battle. Kuro sent his friend an urgent glare, and whispered fiercely into her ear-

"_Are you retarded? We can't afford to mess with this guy right now, Sato! You can crush him during the chunin exams for all I care, but right now we just need to get out of here alive, and if you keep egging him on, that's not going to happen!!!"_

Sato looked at Kuro levelly, "You don't think I can handle him?'

"This isn't about pride or proving anything, you fool!" Makuro snarled. He looked really and truly streamed, the very picture of frusteration, "I'm asking you…no, I'm begging you _not _to get into a fight with Gaara of the sand! Not here, not now! _Save it._!!"

Sato raised her head again, and caught Gaara's mad gaze. Makuro was no coward-if he felt it was necessary, he would have thrown himself at this new genin, but on the other hand if he felt it was not absolutely required, he wouldn't. Maybe there was a grain of truth to Kuro;s words. She _would _save it to the chunin's, and hope that she got paired up with this guy. Common sense won out in Satora's inner battle. She nodded slightly, and said, "Until next time, freak-"

_Kaa---ZAAAM!!!!_

Both of the genin disappeared. Sato had used her Shadow art of hiding. Gaara didn't seem to care all that much.


	8. Aftermath

_In Yorugakure_

There was a burst of energy, and Sato and Kuro appeared together in Yorugakures Central Square. They were rather surprised to find Yoake and Shinri standing by each other towards the north side, heads bent together in some sort of conference. Yoake and Shinri looked up, and were obviously also taken aback to see the other members of their cell.

"Look what the shadows dragged in.." Shinri crossed his arms across his chest, and glowered at the teen.

"I'll ignore that." Sato came trotting across the clearing, the very picture of a giddy school-girl," What were you two talking about? Come on, you can tell me!"

"Shove off, Tasogare." Shinri said sourly, his face twisting into a glare.

"Piss off, Hebigiru." Sato shot back, but was not daunted. She threw a winning smile at her sensai, "Mission complete, master. Only one sand cell remains alive, thanks to yours truly!"

Yoake looked over Sato's head at Makuro, who was standing quietly off on the sides, "no one saw you? You made sure to check every step you made?"

"No one saw us!" Sato said cheerily.

"_Sato!" _Makuro spat, coming to stand next to his friend, voice reproachful.

Satora hung her head, "OK, someone did."

"Who was it?" Yoake said fairy, hands on her hips. She wasn't all that mad; somehow she could have expected this. Makuro couldn't possibly keep up toe to toe with Sato when she was on a killing rampage, which would explain this predicament.

Sato didn't answer. She just looked at Makuro.

Shinri gave a hoarse laugh, "Did you gather together the entire village, and make a public spectacle of the execution, Sato darling?"

_"Shut-UP, Hebigru-"_

"We were discovered by Gaara of the sand." Makuro deadpanned, crossing his arms behind his back, "He was no doubt drawn in to us by the smell of blood."

Yoake sighed, and rubbed her temples gently, "You know we're screwed now, right?"

"I would have killed him then and there to shut him up!" Sato volunteered in a helpful tone, "But Makuro pulled me away-"

"Don't you _dare _blame this one on me, Tasogare!" Makuro snapped, rounding on the girl, "I told you, didn't I, to not make a big huge project out of killing those genin! I told you to keep a low profile, but you spent most of the night toying with each and every one of them, giving Gaara plenty of time to find us!"

Sato looked steamed as well, but before she and Kuro could leap at each other's throats, Yoake stepped in between them.

"I doubt Gaara will say anything to Baki, or even his father." She said, keeping a close eye on Sato to prevent any assault, "Now that I think about it. Gaara is a killer himself, the most we can hope for is that his twisted mind will work out some form of logic that lets us off the hook."

"He looked us straight in the eye.." Makuro's voice was toneless once more, but there was a backdrop of slight fear as he recalled the event, "And he said…'_why are you killing them? It's my job!"_"

"Gaara is territorial." Yoake said simply, "He's more like the beast inside of him than you could know. I'm surprised he let you away alive. Killing, for him, isn't just sport. He needs to have blood on his hands all the time to sate the appetite of that monster the kazekage put inside of him."

A moment of silence passed between the four of them, broken finally by Sato.

"So what are we going to do, then?" Her tone was remorseful, "OK, I screwed up, I admit it. How can we fix it?"

"We can't, unless we all can do some pretty serious bluffing." Yoake put on her thinking face, and wrinkled her nose, "Supposing that Gaara was the only one who saw you two, and also supposing that he won't tell anyone that it was you two who killed off the genin cells..then we might be in the clear."

"'Might' happens to be the operate word here, I'm noticing." Shinri murmured.

Yoake shot the young genin a look that quite plainly told him where to shove his comments. The yorukage continued, "But….as Shinri points out, there is a chance that he will let the beans spill. If that should happen, our only hope is to frame Konoha again. That was our initial plan, but now that one of Suna's own saw us in the middle of their city, killing genin, its been trampled into the dust."

"What do you suggest, Yorukage?" Makuro asked softly.

Yoake shook her head, "I don't know. I may have to go back to Konoha, and tell the Lord Hokage of these happenings. There is nothing more we can do, and right now the most I can say to you three is..hang around here for the next two days, sleep, do whatever you want. The plan is going to need some major editing right now, but the second stage should remain untouched."

"Chunins are in two days, nothing is changing there?" Sato asked, twining her fingers around her bangs nervously.

"Exactly." Yoake narrowed her eyes, "Like I said-everything goes down the same there."

Makuro gave Sato another one of his looks, and she fixed him with a hollow stare, and snapped, "Alright, Kuro, I know, I mucked everything up. My big head got in the way all that we've been planning, I know, I know. I'm sorry. Are you happy?"

The linen clad ninja gave his head a slight shake, "I don't know, Sato. I just don't know about you."

Sato didn't reply, but hung her head.

_"Looks like the princess finally got what's coming to her." _Shinri thought grimly. His disdain of Sato only stretched so far. Somewhere deep, deep inside of him was a painfully small part that pitied her. It was small, but it still counted for something.

However, that small part in him was twisted as well. A plan hatched in his crafty serpents mind at that moment, a plan so wicked and simple that he couldn't' believe it took so long for him to come up with it. For two seconds he stood there in that dark clearing, hardly daring to believe he was thinking what he was thinking. His heart was thumping in his chest with the beautiful simplicity of it. Dare he?

Yoake nodded at them once, and leaped up and away into the night, on her way to the leaf village while there was still night to cover her. Shinri decided to risk it, and took two steps to Sato's side.

With Makuro's suspicious gaze on his back, Shinri bent his head in close to her's and whispered a handful of choice words, cupping his hand carefully in order to make sure Makruo could not hear what he was saying.

"Shinri, what are you up to now?" Makuro said sharply, swiftly intervening. Shinri cursed inwardly, and stepped back.

_"That Seiroyuki could sense the malice in me, sure as day.' _Shinri thought, trying hard to keep his features stone, though he knew it was useless. Makuro could not only sense chakra, he could differentiate the amounts of chi being exerted as emotions. Shinri glanced swiftly at the young Tasogare. The look on her face told him all he needed to know-the blow was dealt, and now all he had to do was sit back and watch the dominos fall.

"It's alright, Kuro. For once he wasn't saying complete crap." Sato crossed her arms across her chest, and grinned ruefully, a shadow of her old self. "It's nothing, anyways." Here she leaned her head back and gave a great yawn, "_WOOO!!!! _ I'm going to bed, see you all in the morning."

With that, the girl left the clearing, no doubt bound for the Tasogare manor that had belonged to her family. It was a sprawling estate, though nowhere near the size of some of the mansions in Konoha, or any other developed village. Makuro watched her go off into the night, one foot steadily in front of the other before she totally melted into the darkness, not once looking back.

All at once, he turned on Shinri.

"What did you say to her, Shinri? Make no mistake, I know it was no common pleasantry. You might think Sato a fool, but you won't pull the wool over my eyes."

"Calm down, Makuro." Shinri waved away his fellow cell member with a graceful hand, "Ask her if you really feel you must. Like she said…it was nothing."

Makuro's fists were clenched, and his face behind the cloth was set.

"Shinri, you're more slippery than I care to handle. I'm watching you….Good night."

Makuro backed out of the clearing, carefully facing the snake ninja the entire way so as to protect his back

Shinri would have given himself a pat on the back, but refrained. He wanted a good nights sleep, and his self-celebration might take up the remainder of the night. Better to wait once everything came together.


	9. The Forest of death

_Three days later_

_44th training ground_

_Konoha_

Makuro thought it logical that none in the large crowd of genin assembled at the front of the forest would notice him or his fellow cell members as they melted stealthily into the back of throng. Unfortunately he was wrong. Almost the instant that he, Shinri, and Sato stepped into the back of the crowd, nearly everyone turned and looked at them. It was a gradual thing, this gawking, but the results remained the same.

Everyone's attention slowly turned from Anko, who was still explaining the second part of the exam to these three strange ninja who had just come out of nowhere. Sato could feel the heat of dozens of gazes on first her face, and then her hitae-ate headband. Maybe they recognized the symbol for the village hidden in the night, maybe they didn't. Either way, Sato felt like she was under glass at a museum. She rather liked it.

Most of these looks were of polite puzzlement, some were inquisitive, and very few were openly hostile. Satora's gaze was drawn to the sound cell, which was missing one member, Kin. She didn't recognize the stocky replacement for the girl, but she did recognize the other two, Dosu and Zoku. Was that hate brimming in their eyes? Were those fists clenching and unclenching?

Sato scoffed. Most likely they were pissed that Shinri had killed Kin before they could. There was no love in that cell, no comradeship. In a way, Orochimaru's cell was like Sato's own.

Then again, they weren't.

Sato flipped her hair, and she _waved_

Shinri gritted his teeth and shot a pure look of loathing at the girl, "Can you please not act like a complete idiot when we have everyone staring at us, Sato?"

"It's me they're looking at, Snake charmer, so don't you worry." Sato said through a smile plastered on her pretty mouth. She waved mechanically, and some of those inquisitive heads turned back to Anko, "You won't have to fret about anyone taking a gander at that ugly thing you call a face…"

Makuro could sense the surge of anger deep inside Shinri. The snake ninja was sorely tempted to take the bait the young Tasogare was offering, but he resisted. Now wasn't the time.

"_OY!" _Anko's whistle was shrill and loud, but it brought everyone's attention back to her. The woman put her hands on he slim hips, and glared at all the present ninja, "You guys gonna pay attention and hear some stuff that might actually keep you alive in this exam, or you want to gawp at three other noobs like yourselves?"

"Noobs?" Sato scowled.

Pause..

"Alright.." Anko glowered at everyone, then continued. She pointed behind her to the tents south of the main gate, "Now in those tents you'll be given two scrolls…"

Across the field, there were three ninja in particular who noticed the Yoru cell..  
"Who are they?" Sakura asked Sasuke anxiously, taking this opportunity to lean in closer to him. She indicate the three genin that had just joined the ninja body with a nod, and waited for Sasuke's answer carefully, daring to take a step closer to him for the answer.

"They're genin from the village hidden in the night." Sasuke's eyes narrowed as his gaze swept up and down Satora, "And there's the Tasogare Kakashi told us about.."

"WHAT?" Naruto did a double take, and nearly fell over with exasperation. He had listened to Kakashi describing this powerful ninja clan, whose final living member would be present at the second part of the exam, but he never got that it was a _girl._ Naruto squinted at Sato, and grinned slightly, "Wow, she's pretty cute.."

"Sasuke, aren't you worried?" Sakuro asked, her eyes big with worry, "She might try to kill you!"

"Let her try." Sasuke's eyes flashed.

While Sakura stood there in absolute admiration of Sasuke's cool bravado, Naruto nearly sprained his eyes from rolling them.

_She cant be all that tough, _Naruto thought, gaze drifting back to Sato, _But Kakashi still looked pretty wary when he was talking about her.._

"Oh.." Anko finished up her talk, and fixed everyone in the group with a cocky grin, before shouting,"One more piece of advice? Don't die!"

"That won't be much of a problem, eh Makuro?" Sato said cheerily. The group as one broke, and headed towards the tents where the scrolls were being passed out. Sato, Shinri, and Makuro already knew what was going down-Yoake had explained it that very morning, with some specific guidelines

"_Remember, kids, your mission isn't to race through the exam as fast as possible, and its sure not to kill everyone. This is strictly exploratory, and is probably one of the most important stages in the plan. This is your perfect opportunity to at least get a flavor as to what our opponents from sand, sound, grass, rain, mist, and leaf can do. Don't mess it up, and make the most out of every chance, got it?"_

Yoake's words were still buzzing around in Sato's head as she winked at Makuro, who had remained sullenly silent most of the morning, "How about this? You take the scrolls, Kuro, and hide them in your linens. That leaves us all pretty much free to have some fun for the next three days!"

"Is that what you think this is going to be?" Shinri said distastefully as the three of them trudged over to the tents, "Fun? Just a little game, sport, maybe?"

"Shut up, Shinri!" Sato said sourly. Makuro ducked into the tent, and disappeared from view, and Shinri took this opportunity to walk away, vanishing quickly into the mass of genin.

"AHH!!!" Sato threw her head back and howled "I HATE BOYS!"

"Hey-YOU!!" A tight male voice hollered.

Sato spun on her heel, and found herself face to face with a pissed looking spikey haired ninja, arms crossed over a broad chest, looking laughable in an orange jumpsuit. Satora fixed him with a quizzical look, and the boy jumped to attention, practically hopping with rage.

"YEAH-you! You're that Tasogare chick that no one can shut up about! Well if you're so great, then you'll take a minute to listen to this!" Here the kid poked himself in the chest, "_You_ can stand aside and give _me_ your position as most powerful ninja, cause I'm gonna be the next Hokage-don't you forget it!"

Sato was slightly taken aback

"_NARUTO!" _Out of nowhere flew a kunoichi with bright pink hair, and she socked the boy in the head real good, bringing him to his knees "_WHAT F--- DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING????_

"HEY-LAY OFF!" The kid cried, rubbing his head.

While the orange clad boy groveled on the ground, the pink haired girl grinned, and scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

"Sorry about that, it's just Naruto. You wouldn't understand.."

"I see." Sato thought she missed something somewhere,

"You have no idea." The girl didn't look so scared of her anymore, and managed a slight smile, "I'm Haruno Sakure..you must be Satora Tasogare!"

_Of course I am, you idiot, who do you think I was? _"Nice to meet you." Sato stuck out a hand, and shook Sakura's in a friendly manner, "I would get to know you more, but in that forest you might turn around and whip my butt or something…ha ha ha wouldn't that be sad, right after we become friends..ha ha ha….." _(Yeah right, like I'm gonna let that happen…)_

Sakura returned the laugh, and smiled, "There's not a chance of me beating anyone in the exams, I'll be lucky just to get out of here alive.."

"Don't say that!" Sato's grin faded, "I bet you're as tough as any kunoichi I've met.."

_Which isn't saying much, with the exception of Yoake._

"I can't even keep up with Naruto, much less Sasuke.." Sakura threw up her hands hopelessly and shook her pretty head, pink hair flying everywhere, "There's no way I can even think of-"

"Sasuke?" Sato's voice became as sharp as a kunai, "Sasuke _Uchiha? _He's in your cell?"

"Yes, he is." Sakura gave a weak smile, "He's so cool, but he hardly ever talks to me.."

Sato's heart was racing, and in her mind there was a terrible battle of wills, two options battling it out for action. Stick the plan and not kill Sasuke Uchiha, or avenge her entire family in one blow by killing the uchiha boy. The unfortunate side effect of that last one was that she would be blowing everything her village had ever worked for out of the water, and also jeopardizing a lot of people she couldn't afford to protect.

So she settled for looking mildly interested, "Sasuke Uchiha, huh? He must be some sort of jerk to not talk to you at all.."

"I know!" Sakura exploded, "I just want to _kick _him in the balls and.." She stopped, and shook her head, "What am I saying? He's so cool, wait till you meet him.."

"Oh yes." Sato smiled grimly, "Wait till I meet him…"

"SATO!" Makuro called to his cellmate, and beckoned her over, "I've got the scrolls, let's head back over to the gate."

Sato clasped Sakura on the shoulder, "Nice meeting you, friend, but I have to run. Maybe I'll see you in the forest, and we can hang out, how about that?"

"Sure!" Sakura smiled, scratching the back of her head awkwardly, "Sounds cool!"

Sato trotted over to Makruo. Shinri was nowhere in sight. Chances are he would enter the forest at a different gate altogether, and not even come in with the rest of the genin. It would be an act worthy of slippery Shinri, to be sure.

"Who were you talking to?" Kuro asked curiously.

"A wonderful person, Sakura Haruno of Kakashi Hatake's seventh cell." Sato's eyes were wild, and her fists were clenched, "A certain Sasuke Uchiha happens to be one of her cell members.."

"Don't even think about it!" Kuro seized Sato's wrist, and held it tight, "Please, Sato, I'm begging you. If you kill him now.."

"I know, I know!" Sato ripped her arm from her friends grasp, "I FREAKING KNOW!! You can trust me on this, and I won't kill him. However, you can't stop me from talking to him."

"Sato, you know as well as I do that once you start talking to him, you'll get so steamed up that you'll either say something stupid that'll get him to attack you, or you'll go for his throat first. Just avoid him. Stay away for the plan's sake. If you so much as lay a finger on him.."

The battle light faded from Satora's eye, and she nodded. Makuro could sense that she was finally listening to reason.

"Did you notice the other ninja of interest here that are _not _under Konoha's banner?" Makuro asked his friend in a way of a compromise. The look she gave him stated plainly that no, she hadn't noticed them.

"Orochimaru is in disguise as one of the grass ninja, just a heads up. The only sand cell left alive is to our right-_don't look­ for Gosh sakes!_- and Dosu's gang is circling to the left, probably out for all our blood. There are mist ninja that I heard knew Yoake back when she lived in Kirigakure.."

"I see Neji Hyuga!" Sato licked her lips as team Guy passed the pair of them. Neji gave Sato a cold and cauculating glare, daring to look her in the eye, Tenten averted her gaze, and Rock Lee stopped right in front of them, and stood proud and tall.

"Greetings, honorable Tasogare!" The boy said, throwing a salute, "I look forward to combating you in the forest of death, and will relish going to toe to toe with the cream of the Yorugakure crop.."

"Does he have a death wish?" Sato asked Tenten calmly, who balked.

"Come on, Lee." Neji plucked his friend on the arm, still giving Sato that cold look, "Don't waste your breath on her. Let's go."

As Team Guy stalked away, Sato turned to Makuro

"Can I kill him? Please?"

"He has no fear for you, Sato. I couldn't see it." Kuro said truthfully.

"Is that a yes?"

Makuro groaned, and put his head in his hands. This was going to be the longest three days of his entire life!


	10. An extraordinary company of noobs

"_The way that girl can break a heart_

_It's like a work of art_

And this is the worst part 

_She knows it_

_And she's so confident_

_That she's what everybody wants_

_But nobody wants_

_Her to know that_

_The way that girl can turn a head_

_Well she is such a threat_

_But don't ever forget_

_She knows it_

_And she's got it all_

_All figured out_

_And she won't let you doubt_

_She knows it_

All the genin were packed in tight in front of the main gate. The night cell wasn't hiding in the back this time, they were right in the middle of things, ready for action. Sato was practically bouncing on the balls of her heels; she couldn't wait for those giant, foreboding gates to swing open. Shinri had slipped in with them a few minutes ago, looking rather pleased with himself in a snakelike sort of way. Neither of them had even asked what he had been up to.

Makuro remained as stoic as ever, standing motionless between his two other cellmates, tense, ready for anything.

"What an extraordinary company of noobs! I can't wait, this is going to be so much fun!" Sato said, a competitive grin flittering around her features. She chanced a look at her linen-clad friend, "You?"

"I don't know about this." Makuro said uncertainly, taking a deep breath. He could feel so many emotions and chakra levels around him that it was rather daunting. The sheer amount of power in certain persons standing around him made him seriously consider his own mortality. He wasn't Sato. He knew he was expendable.

"You can't have second thoughts about this now, Kuro!" Shinri said quietly. A change had come over the snake ninja in the last few moments. The usual sneer wasn't on his mouth, and he seemed more docile than before. Was he perhaps actually nervous about going into the forest of death?

Not a chance. Shinri clenched and unclenched his fists, and drew a deep shuddering breath. He was possibly more anxious to get into the 44th training ground than even Sato.

Then all at once it happened.

Satora's perception of reality was suddenly throw into extreme slow-mo, every color flashing to its opposite on the spectrum as her Tasogare powers were involuntarily bought to bear in defense. The girl gave a startled cry as her powers sprang to life, flaring up a brilliant flash of dark energy that blocked a searing kunai that had flown out of no where. The blade was of course deflected, and went spinning off into the unknown while Sato was left standing there, confused.

The ninja that had been lounging around Sato leaped back in alarm as the tendrils of withering shadow reached out for them with greedy arms. The pure chakra coming from the girl flickered and died, but still left many of the genin on edge. Because of her spastic defensive reflex, the chakra Sato's powers had summoned for her was way overkill, resulting in a large violently sparking explosion of shadows.

Sato whirled around, curse scars emitting a fierce orange light, her eyes glowing white. She took note of the kunai that had been thrown her way, buried into the ground nearly to its hilt. That had been a hard throw, and if it wasn't for her powers acting out on their own, she would be dead on the ground with a kunai through the back of her skull

"_Who did it?" _She snarled in a feral voice, crouched, ready for another attack. Her Tasogare powers were a last sort of safety net for any attack-the fact that she hadn't perceived the knife on her own made her even angrier. The nearness of it all scared her.

Sato found only surprised and wary faces staring back at her, three of them being Kakashi's cell 7. She felt Makuro take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze that said, '_take it easy.'_

The orange on her arms faded to yellow, then to green, and then there was no more glow. Sato relaxed slightly, but still kept scanning the crowd. Makuro released her hand, but still kept his close.

"_Sorry…." _ A smooth voice snaked over the rest of the assembled genin, and came to Sato, who immediately stiffened at the familiarity, "_Must have sssslipped..'  
_Three ninja shouldered their way through the crowd, which parted like the red sea to let them through. Shinri felt another chill run up and down his spine as he stared at the Grass ninja disguise Orochimaru had come up with. The other two Kusa ninja stayed a safe distance behind their master.

Orochimaru grinned sickly at the three Yoru genin from behind his wide rimmed hat, and his tongue snaked out over his serrated teeth. It kept coming, shooting out like a gunshot. Sato was immediately on her guard, ready to leap at the fiend, but the long black thing merely wrapped itself around the kunai, and snapped it back to the hand that had sent it.

"_So sorry, you know how it is." _Orochimaru took a step closer to the three teens, and slipped the kunai back into the folds of his Grass ninja robe, "_I hope you can forgive me.."_

Sato's jaw dropped. She shut it with a snap, and then opened it once more. For once in her life she was totally speechless.

Shinri stepped in front of his fellow cell member, and fixed Orochimaru with a venomous glare, shoving his hands back in his pockets.

"Clear out, you Kusagakure freaks. I'm not in the mood for anything like this, and neither is she." Shinri glanced at Sato. Somehow the look he shot her gave her the strength she needed to stop looking like a gaping fish out of water, and more like a ninja from Yorugakure.

"Yeah." She snapped, her voice shaking only slightly, "Get out of here before I go _serious _Tasogare on your hineys.."

There was a murmur, a ripple of motion from the spectators as they either whispered urgently to their cell members, or took a step back. Sato saw the effect of what she said, and decided to play it out to her advantage. Orochimaru might have been playing with her in the beginning, but she knew he wouldn't dare stick around if she tried to fight him here out in the open. He wasn't a fool; he knew he couldn't afford to face her without blowing his cover.

One look at Makuro confirmed it-Kuro had been formulating a plan along the same lines. There was an unspoken agreement between the two of them. It was time for a display of power.

Sato shot her arms out to the side, screaming unnecessarily, her entire body going up in sparking dark fire like she was some bizarre candle. Makuro ducked behind her, and let loose with dozens of linen strips from his person (which Sato cloaked in her ethereal flames) that completed the slightly realistic illusion of a lesser demon coming up from the underworld.

The crowd saw a possessed Tasogare ninja glowing with pure chakra, sending out antenna and feelers. It wouldn't have held up under scrutiny, but for the moment it was the scariest thing they could come up with.

Orochimaru wasn't fooled either, he knew there was no jutsu behind what Sato and Makuro had done, but he also knew it was time to go. Sato saw he and his cohorts vanish back into the crowd, and she let her rabid energy go, flickering back into her arms.

At the same time, Makuro drew back all of his linens in one smooth motion. He was left adjusting his goggles innocently as the genin spectators gasped and took multiple steps back.

Shinri turned on his heel, and penetrated the two of them with an unreadable look. Disdain? Grudging respect? A faint grin? Maybe a little of both.

"Did you see that?" Sakuro cried from the middle of the crowd, her hands jumping up to her mouth in surprise. Her eyes were wide in fear, "That was-was-"

"A complete sham." Sasuke said coolly, glancing at Sakura, "You couldn't see through that? It was an intimidation technique to get those Grass ninja off their backs, there wasn't any real demon there.."

"Oh, of course!" Sakura laughed weakly, and ran her fingers through her hair..

Naruto was frozen. What he had just seen, sham or not, was an incredibly display of power. He knew enough to realize that those flames he had just seen were pure chakra energies. Who knew what kinds of jutsu's that chick could come up with if it only took a raw, untamed blast to scare a crowd..

"Alright, alright!" Anko shouted angrily, coming out nowhere. She vaulted over the crowd, and landed lightly in front of the gate, sending a reproachful look at the three night cell members. She clasped her hands behind her back, and tossed her head, "No more of that, or everyone involved will be disqualified before things even start! Are you all ready?"

"Just open the gate already!" Someone hollered. There were shouts of approval, and pretty soon the entire company was throwing some variation of the phrase at the young proctor.

Anko looked disgusted, "Alright, you want the gates to open? On your marks then, kids.."

She raised an arm in the air, and everyone tensed.

"Get set….."

Shinri's breathing was becoming even more and more haggard. He was ready..oh, so ready..

"_GO!"_

Anko dropped her hand, and was gone in a puff of smoke. The gates flew open with a harsh, shrill scream that was echoed by countless battle cries. Dozens upon dozens of ninja flashed past the night cell all on their bounding, prancing way to a probable death…


	11. And So It Begins

As one, all of the genin cells leaped from the ground and were off in the high boughs of the forest, jumping and vaulting from limb to limb on light toes. Sato, Shinri, and Makuro could see none but themselves but it didn't take a genius to figure out that there were dozens and dozens of others in the leafy foliage alongside them. It was nothing for those three teens to be able to fly through these trees with such ease-it was a rudimentary skill for traveling in the woods of Yorugakure.

Sato was in her element, hardly even having to touch the bark of the trees with her hands or feet. The speed she had achieved blew her hair every which way, and she felt free, flipping and twisting every which way in various acrobatic stunts. Sato let a wild war whoop fly from her mouth. It was thrust aside by the rushing wind, and she chanced a look over at Makuro

Kuro was silently leading the other two. He alone could accurately sense where various traps and dangers were and was navigating accordingly. The linen clad ninja didn't even have to move a muscle. The long thin strips of cloth were writhing and shooting every which way, wrapping around the limbs and propelling the boy onward like a slingshot. Makuro stood there in his cage of whipping white cloth, arms crossed across his chest, face immobile.

Shinri was silent as well leaping from tree to tree just behind Sato. His reflexes were all natural; there were no Tasogaryn prompts here. His feet were sure of each and every foothold they found.

"What's the plan, Kuro?" Sato hollered to her friend. Makuro shot a glance behind him at the girl, and all at once his linens whipped towards the same tree, holding him in place as the other two quickly regrouped on the same limb.

"What do you say, Shinri?" Makuro nodded at the snake ninja. He wasn't in such a dangerous mood, and Kuro had a small feeling that this time they might be able to trust whatever he said.

Shinri wiped his forehead, not like there was sweat on it, though. His eyes were alive and flashing, and he glanced first to the right and the left before answering.

"We must be a ways into the forest. I think it's safe at this point to split up for a few hours, and collect the information Yoake needs. The three of us are competent to take care of ourselves and any other ninja we may run into, but we should still be cautious."

Sato had just enough reserve to not bug her eyes out at the kid. Shinri had given an answer that sounded like it could have come from Kuro? What was up with that?

"I agree with Shinri." Sato sounded surprised at her own words. What was up with _this? _

Makuro nodded once more, "Sound logical. Still, we need to play it safe. Orochimaru is crawling around out there somewhere, we all saw him. And Sato.."

"I know!" The girl raised a slim hand, "If you feel you have to shadow me, Kuro, you go right ahead. I won't go after anyone, especially not that Uchiha kid, no matter how much I want to."

"As a general rule, Satora.." Shinri's voice was back to its coolness, "Don't even talk to anyone with a leaf on his or her headbands."

"Or with the symbol for Kusa." The other two stared at Kuro. Did he just try to make a joke? Stoic, patient, even faced Makuro?

Sato gave her head a little shake, "We all know the scrolls aren't our priority, that's kind of a given. Shall we meet back somewhere in say, three hours to make camp? How are we going to find each other?"

"I'll find you, Satora." Makuro said turning his gaze on the girl, "And I'm sure Shinri will pop in out of nowhere once I get to you."

Shinri allowed himself a thin smile, "Count on it."

The three of them paused a moment, and looked at each other. At that split second, the three of them felt more like comrades than they ever had. Good friends, even. Despite all their differences and upbringings, maybe in the face of trial..they didn't hate each others guts?

Shinri cocked his head at Sato and smirked, slitting his eyes in mock pity, "Try not to screw anything up, Tasogare."

The young girl bared her teeth, and shot back, "Hey, aren't you late for a tea party with Orochimaru?"

In perfect synchronous, the two were gone, Shinri backing out without a sound, and Sato disappearing in a blast of dark energy. Makuro was left standing there on the limb, shaking his head.

"And so it begins!!"


	12. Itatchi's surprise visit

Sato couldn't help laughing aloud to herself every once in a while as she vaulted through the trees. Yoake had come up with harder tests and challenges for the three night cell members than what these silly chunin exams were asking for! It was all so beautifully simple that she couldn't help but release her mirth in some way or another.

What Yoake had asked them to do this time around wasn't all that hard, either. Get an idea as the strengths and weaknesses of some genin? No challenge, none at all. Sato paused for a moment on another wide bough, and redid her hair. Normally she wasn't vain-she didn't have to be. The girl was gorgeous enough without any help-but it didn't hurt to look her best with all the new faces she was going to meet.

It was actually a rather pleasant day. Sato took a few deep breaths. She felt so alone up there on her tree, but it was not the sad kind. It was the kind that made you wish to pack a basket full of food, and have a picnic all by yourself. An enjoy your own company kind of lonliness.

"MMMM.." Sato rubbed her stomach, and took a seat right there on the limb, "FOOD!!"

She hadn't eaten anything since this morning, and was feeling rather hungry. Satora let her legs dangle over the edge of the tree, and debated weather or not to leap down to the forest floor, and root around for food. She was actually prepared to slide off the edge, before recalling something Yoake said about poisonous plants..

Sato gave another bark of a laugh. It was a good day, what could go wrong?

She just had to ask.

Everything slowed down again, and once more Sato's perception became skewed. Her heart began pounding-she was under attack!

"What the—"

This time around, Sato was totally in control of her situation. The attack was coming form behind, and was coming in fast. Sato could sense each deliberate movement of her opponent-whoever it was, they knew what they were doing!

Using her own natural strength, Sato shot from the limb almost perpendicular to the thick branch, twisting around in the air as she did so. All of time was completely frozen. Almost luxuriously, Sato turned in the air to get a look at her attacker, and her heart skipped a beat.

She immediately recognized the porcelain animal mask her attacker wore-it was the mark of the Konoha ANBU. The man had a ninjaken tightly in his grasp, the shiny blade glinting against the Sun, but Sato couldn't make anything else out because of the speed blur. She had caught this attack just in the nick of time. The ANBU agent's ninjaken was mere inches from penetrating the wide bough where she had been sitting not so long ago.

Time inched forwards, screaming in young Tasogare's ears to be released. Blood was pounding in the girl's ears as her gaze swept up and down the scene she had just barely avoided.

_Why is a Konoha ANBU attacking me? Was the leaf-night alliance strong, or is this just more proof that we can't trust the Hokage? Maybe Ibiki Morino ordered this hit..maybe…_

Second after second ticked by with both the predator and the prey suspended in midair. At last Sato began to see the effects of the ANBU's ninjaken attack on the limb. The entire branch began to fragment and collapse from the force of the blow.

In her shock, Sato released time.

She spun backwards, and managed to cling to the trunk of another tree and regroup for two seconds as the ANBU agent flipped around on light toes, and did the same. Sato's heart was really going at this point. It had been so long since she was in an actual fight for her life, she couldn't even remember what it felt like to have someone coming at her to kill her

Well, it was time to get reacquainted.

For a long moment, Night and Leaf stared at each other. Sato got a good look at her opponent right then, not like it did much. The ninja wore typical ANBU gear, their standard uniforms of black and gray armor with arm guards, and maybe a special spiritual tattoo somewhere. His mask was that of a panda bear, white with little black nubs where the ears should be. Add the blood red mouth painted in a defiant frown, and you had a complete circus freak.

Sato narrowed her eyes. A complete circus freak what might actually stand a chance at taking her out. She didn't know how many more she could handle.

The Tasogare tensed. Sometimes the best defense was a good offense. There was no doubt in her mind that this fellow wanted to kill her. She didn't like that idea so much.

_Want some, you leaf ANBU black ops stupid dumb gay village creep?? WANT SOME??_

Sato pushed off her tree again, shooting forwards like a gunshot. Her curse scars began to glow a steady orange, as did her eyes. It was on.

She cloaked both her arms in her flickering shadows as her momentum carried her towards her assailant. Sato's intent was to slice this ANBU up with her signature Shadow Blades technique, and leave it as simple as that. No blood. No unnecessary gore or messy things to clean up. _Are you happy Makuro? _Besides, it sure wouldn't help her to kill one of Konoha's top men in a way that was as graphic as possible. Wouldn't help her at all.

She kept her eyes on the ANBU as she flew forwards, time still suspended. For one second she glanced down at her hands to make sure she was flipping the right Tasogare hand seals. When she looked back up. The ANBU was gone. Her heart jumped again, and the darkfire on her arms flickered and died in her surprise.

_What am I dealing with?_

Something slammed into the top of Sato's head, and she thought she had a feeling what it was. White-hot pain exploded in her vision in pretty starbursts and in the confusion of that moment, she let time go. Only one thought managed to register in the young girl's mind--

_He touched me without my letting him. Nothing's touched me without my letting it before…..What am I dealing with?_

Her vision sputtered desperately as her mind reeled from not only the blow, but from the fact that reverberated through her rattled skull-_He got me. _She plunged towards the forest floor, still in a funk. Sato could dimly make out the ANBU free falling after her, arms and legs spread in typical form.

Sato finally digested one fact.

_I'm falling._

Sato twisted around in the air, finally seeing things clearly once more. Score was one/zero to ANBU dude, she decided in that moment to level the playing field considerably.

As the ground came up to meet her, Sato twisted valiantly around in the air again, catching sight of her opponent still bearing on her. They were still falling? Obviously. She wasn't going to have much time for this.

The young Tasogare threw both palms towards the ANBU, screaming out her rage and frustration. Her rune scars began glowing red, and her eyes bright and keen—

A great explosion of pure Tasogare shadow energy parachuted devastatingly towards the ANBU. Sato closed her eyes against the blast, not bothering to see what the outcome of that move was. She twisted around yet again to meet the ground gracefully like a cat. Just in time. Just barely in time. That had been close. Way to close.

She rolled and was up in a flash. No time to check where the ANBU dude was-she had to move. Sato dashed as fast as her legs would carry her into the forest, drawing a kunai as she did so.

WHAT AM I DEALING WITH?????? 

Once more, Sato's powers flared up on their own, that last resort defense. They called a large protective dome around her, causing the girl to crash to the ground in a panicked shower of dirt and debris. The Kunai slipped forgotten from her grasp, and sato gave a cry of alarm as a sinister ninjaken actually penetrated her once so impenetrable defense—right above her head, inches from the scalp.

Not for the first time today she had escaped death by mere seconds.

Sato regained control of her powers, and mentally willed the cage to become thicker, stronger. As the shadows lengthened, she was quite relieved to see that ninjaken withdraw. Most likely the ANBU was sitting on the dome, trying another one of his tricks to get in and kill her. Chances were one of those tricks might actually do the job.

She sat cross legged on the forest floor, knowing she didn't have much time.

It was to much. Her nerves were frayed enough today-maybe she wasn't ready to get back out there into the world. She had thought she could take on the universe, but of course that was in the safety of Yorugakure. Sato had never been allowed outside of the village as a child, and it made her mad. In her village she had been hailed as a hero, a victor. Nothing could touch her. She was a Tasogare. None could even come close to taking her down. Nothing could touch her without her letting it.

_I'm off the edge of the map. Here there be monsters, and I'm not the only one._

That all might be true, but this was the third time in twelve hours that Sato had felt something she'd never felt before in her life-fear.

The rune scars up and down her left arms flickered from yellow, to orange, and then finally a deep, demonic red. Her hands slid into the hand seals for monkey, hare, and dragon.

_"I am a Tasogare!" _Sato hissed, flipping the signs without a hitch, "_HIDDEN DARTING SHADOW JUTSU!!!"_

Her eyes blazed white once..and she was gone.

The ANBU watched from his regained perch on high as the black, shadowy cage protecting the Tasogare flickered and died. He peered rather uninterestedly into the depths, and was not at all surprised to find no small child crouching where she had been moments before.

Sato had entered the alternate universe that her jutsu gave her entrance to. Here she was free to attack the ANBU agent in any way she choose, and he wouldn't be able to stop her. He wouldn't even be able to see her. She could kick him in the shins all she wanted, and despite his training there would be no way for him to touch her.

At least that was what the young Tasogare kept telling herself over and over as she sighted the ANBU agent up high in the trees, and headed for him. She landed on the same branch he was on, and began to run at him, arm curled back for a devastating punch.

_This is it, you cretin. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice…YOUR DEAD._

As Sato approached at her frantic run, the ANBU looked her square in the eye and almost lazily raised his hand to the front of his face, and curled it like a crab. It was a position usually used to block punches……

Sato's eyes widened in horror even as she drew back her fist for the punch, _NO!!! THERE IS NO F------ WAY CAN HE SEE ME!!!!!!!_

_KA—ZAAM_

Sato found herself back in the real material world.

The ANBU had caught Sato's fist with that curled up move. He had her in his viselike grip, and would not let her go. His fingers were cold and clammy, and dug into the flesh on her hand. As though her entire mobility was dependant on the use of her left hand, Sato found she could no longer move.

Sato felt like crying. _WHAT IS THIS GUY? There is no way he could have been able to block it! Did I not do my jutsu right? Maybe I really wasn't in that parallel dimension! Otherwise there would have been no…way for him to anticipate that blow! In all reasoning, he can't have seen me! He can't have! He can't—_

_But he could have,_ A small voice in the back of Sato's mind said, _If he was better than you. If he could kill you._

_But I am a Tasogare. _Sato argued.

_He touched you twice without you letting him. _The voice shot back.

_This is ridiculous! _Sato returned her attention to the dire situation at hand _I'm arguing with myself..and loosing._

Neither the ANBU agent or Satora moved. They remained motionless like that for what may have been five minutes, Sato because she couldn't move, and the ANBU because he had her at bay. Sato's mind worked frantically, trying to find a way out of this situation. She couldn't do any jutsu's-the ANBU had a tight grip on her left arm.

Sato's breath was coming harder and harder. This was a new feeling. It was no longer fear, at least, but the alternative was much worse. She had skated past fear, and was now terrified. In order to break this terribly new and paralyzing feeling Sato opened her mouth and tried to speak.

She said the only thing that she could, and the only thing that made sense.

"Well, congratulations." Her voice almost cracked, but she held it in check, "You are no ordinary ANBU, are you?"

She didn't expect him to answer. She only said it to drown this new breed of fear that was raging inside of her chest. She only said it to stall for time so that she could desperately form some sort of a plan.

She didn't expect him to use his free hand to slowly remove the Panda mask.

And she most certainly did not expect the true identity of her attacker.

Sato's jaw dropped.

_No….it can't be._

"Hello Satora." Itachi Uchiha said smoothly, a soft breeze springing up and blowing his dark hair in front of his face, "How nice to finally be acquaintance…"

Sato was drawn to his eyes. The Sharingan. Both eyes. Bright red. Don't look into them, Sato. Don't do it. Twin pools of garnet, The Sharingan. The very tool, the very clan, and possibly the very same person that had killed her family all those years ago.

Sato's mind was reeling again, and she swayed slightly. No, she wasn't thinking clearly. Itachi was seventeen or eighteen present day, he would only have been three or four years old when the attacks had come to Yorugakure. All the same…

"I don't want to kill you, my dear." Itachi continued as though this were the most normal place to have a meeting. He tightened his grip on Sato's hand, and she gave a small whimper, "Believe me, if I wanted to, you'd already be dead. I came here just to test you, and see if the rumors are true."

"W-What rumors?" Sato managed to ask. Her voice did not remain even this time. She hated herself for it.

Itachi gave a small smile, and that soft breeze suddenly became very cold, "The rumors are that you are strong enough to kill Sasuke Uchiha."

"I can't, they won't let me." Was Sato's immediate, programmed response. It was only after she had said it that realized how lame it sounded. _Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid—_

"Of course they won't!" Itatchi narrowed those Sharingan eyes, and pulled Sato in even closer by her arm until she was almost nose to nose with him. "Because they know if Sasuke is killed by someone other than me, I won't be very happy."

_My nerve, where's my nerve? This guy comes in here and utterly destroys whatever ounce of confidence I had…where's my nerve…my nerve…_

"My mission went well, and you performed accordingly." Itachi used his free hand, and tapped his head, obviously indicating his Sharingan, "Every move, Sato. I knew every move before you even made it, and you stepped to your little dance well. I can confidently say that you could kill Sasuke with your hands tied behind your back—And that is where we can't be friends…."

"What do you want with me?" Sato snarled, happy to find her nerve returning.

"I told you already." Itachi said with the air of one explaining the fact that one plus one equals two, "I came to see if the rumors were true. You should feel honored, little Tasogare. Most of my dealings aren't important enough for me to get dressed up for the occasion, or even to come in person."

"I'm flattered." Sato muttered.

"You shouldn't be worried about Orochimaru, or even Sasuke. It's me, little Tasogare. I know how to kill you, I know how to take you out. I even know the rather sad plan the village hidden in the night is trying to put into motion.."

Sato glared at a spot in the middle of Itachi's forehead, not willing to look him in the eye, "You're bluffing."

"Are you really that dumb?" Itachi pulled her in closer again until he was practically embracing her. Sato finally understood what he was doing, trying to force her to look him in the eye. She abruptly closed her own as the Uchiha continued, "Yes, actually I suppose you must be. Prancing around thinking you are the greatest ninja around just because for fourteen years your village fed you that lie. Well, time to wake up sunshine. You're nothing more than a pawn in a much bigger game."

"_Shut up_." Sato didn't really mean to say it, it just came out. Her eyes were squeezed shut, "_Shut…."_

"Somewhere in the back of your mind, I think you know it's true," Itachi continued ruthlessly, "You just never really wanted to think about it. You liked to be the center of attention, and the plan your village came up with was the perfect opportunity for you to finally get the spot light. Well are you happy little Tasogare? You're starring role in the cheap soap opera you call life has earned you a visit from none other than yours truly.."

Sato couldn't take it any more.

"_I SAID SHUT UP!"_

She broke away from Itachi, stumbling back on the branch. Itachi smiled wanly at the sight, "Oh dear, have I upset you?"

Something was clawing at Sato's stomach. It was a feeling she had never experienced before, and it made her want to double up and moan. She looked at her left arm, and was surprised to find that it was actually sparking chakra. It wasn't the black hued chakra she was so used to manipulating..this chakra was an electric blue.

Her arm continued to spark like it was shorting out, and that sickening feeling that something inside of her wanted out bad kept coming. Slowly that feeling became less painful, and more..invigorating.

Sato looked up, and transfixed Itachi with a hard glare, her confidence somehow restored by this queer feeling in the pit of her stomach. The Uchiha smiled approvingly, "I see your anger is giving way to something far more..volatile. Interesting. Your programmed response to everything is along the lines of, 'fight fire with more fire.' Until the blaze consumes everyone expect yourself. We could use you on our side, Satora. How would you like to join the Akatsuki?"

Sato opened her mouth to say something like, 'piss off, Itachi' but before she could even form the words the Uchiha nodded his head, and was gone.

Sato had trouble controlling herself for a few minutes after that. Her arm was still sparking chakra. She was really worked up, there was no other explanation for the way her curse-scars were behaving. Her mind was telling her body it needed more chakra to take on this new foe, and her body was responding accordingly. Now that the foe was seemingly gone, her body was having a hard time listening to the mind again.

Had Anko, Yoake, or even Kakashi known that Itachi was going to drop in on her like that? Sato cast a glance over at the branch that Itachi had originally destroyed with one blow from his ninjaken. What had she been dealing with?

Sato took a great shuddering breath. Despite the fact that her arm was still giving off occasional discharges of blue chakra, she decided to move on. No point in hanging around here, lest Itachi come back.

Out of many things that had scared her about the encounter was the cool way Itachi had treated her. His family had fought the Tasogare clan to a standstill, he must have seen the fearsome amount of powers they had…yet he still regarded her with disdain she usually reserved for crap.

It wasn't even disdain..it was a cool confidence that he was better than her in every way. A chill ran up and down Sato's spine. How often had she looked at people with that same manner?

Arm still going off like a broken circuit, Sato leaped to the next tree in the Forest of Death. She didn't feel so hungry anymore.


	13. On the Battlements

Kisame was waiting for Itachi on Konoha's south wall.

Itachi seemed to be smiling widely as he stepped out of nowhere, and pulled off his panda mask next to his partner, "Did you miss me?"

"Not at all, I hardly had time. Didn't take you near as long as I thought it would." Kisame bared his teeth in a way that might have been considered a smile, "Only you could do it, Itachi. Manage to sneak in and out of the second stage of those chunin selection exams without anyone noticing. I shouldn't even ask. Was the objective achieved?"

"Of course. Wasn't all that hard." Itachi said calmly, quietly slipping his mask on once more, "Let me tell you, the temptation to drop in on my brother was really quite something hard to resist. I don't think he knew I was even in the forest, seeing as I didn't want to be found."

"The objective, Itachi?" Kisame asked, pressing a little more firmly this time.

Itachi nodded, " Satoshi Tasogare's daughter is as powerful as they say, but she really has no idea as to who she really is. It's actually quite amusing the number of people flitting around in that forest who think they have a handle on what's really going down."

Itachi narrowed his eyes behind the mask, "I also wanted to have a little chat with Orochimaru. He's skipping around in that forest, toying with everyone, thinking he's masterminding this entire plot. The poor snake has no idea what's really going on."

Kisame nodded, "Then things are going well."

Itachi took a deep breath, "As well as ever."

Kisame caught Itachi's gaze. The Uchiha was looking over the village he had grown up in with an almost wistful look in his eyes.

"Don't tell me you're getting all emotional over your old home, Itachi!" Kisame said in his typical polite manner.

Itachi did not dignify this with a response right. Kisame shifted uncomfortably. Like Itachi, he was also wearing the traditional ANBU getup. It was almost necessary. Any other disguise might have left his face visible, and due to its characteristic shark like appearance, that would have given them away immediately. Kisame's mask happened to be that of a fish. He found it rather amusing. All the same, he could not shake this feeling of discomfort hanging over him like a cloud. The sooner he and his partner got out of here, the better!

Kisame was used to his billowing black and red Akatsuki robes, but there was no way he would have dared wear them on a mission to Konoha. Itachi crossed his arms across his chest, a wry expression on his face.

"Hold on a second, Kisame. I smell a snake."

Shinri froze, and knew the game was up. He had been hiding on the other side of the battlements, sticking to the north side of the wall on his back using only his chakra. It was a trick he had known for a long time, and it had often come in handy when he was spying on some thing for tender eyes only. Unfortunately, it looked like Itachi had been able to find him anyways.

Itachi's voice drifted over the battlements, "Shall we speak plainly, my little friend? Come out before I go over there and drag you out here by your hair."

Shinri allowed himself a small smile, and flipped up and over the battlements until he was standing unabashed in front of Kisame and Itachi. So this was how it was going to be.

"Well!" Kisame said. His sharkish eyes blinked and narrowed, "I was expecting something far more impressive. A genin managed to sneak up on us?"

"Oh, he's no ordinary genin." Itachi mused, wondering why he hadn't killed the brat already. Oh yes, he knew why. Itachi knew he couldn't afford any dead bodies. Not yet anyways. The Uchiha settled for cocking his masked head, "Shouldn't you be in the forest, battling for selection like all the other wet nosed kids?"

"No, I'm already a chunin." Shinri stated plainly, putting his hands in his pockets. Even though his position wasn't the best, Shinri felt a rush to be finally saying these words out loud, and he relished the truth in every syllable. For far to long he had been assuming this role as a night genin, instead of a night chuunin. It seemed almost bizarre to reveal this fact now, but all the same it felt good to hear the words rolling off his tongue.

Kisame chuckled. This kid was standing right in front of him, no ounce of fear in his eyes at all, "Aren't you a brave one? Unfortunately you know we have to kill you."

"No, Kisame, no killing." Itachi said in a rather detached tone of voice. He slowly, slowly took his panda mask off yet again, and let it drop to the ground. His Sharingan eyes flashed, "I am rather interested to know what this Yorugakurene villager wants."

"I must admit, I was not expecting to be found." Shinri said coolly, and something curious began to happen to his eyes. Something milky and white slid over his cool green pupils, and soon both of his eyes were completely covered with some pearl white membrane, "So I am at a loss for words."

The kid's talk was polite, yet he seemed to be talking down his nose at them. Itachi frowned. Maybe the chuunin didn't realize whom he was dealing with. Itachi turned his Sharingan on the boy, but to this surprise he found he couldn't see anything.

_'Clever.' _Itachi thought ruefully, knowing he might have finally met his match, '_He's a snake, I forgot. The membrane that slid across his eyes is quite effectively blocking whatever my Sharingan would have been able to read of him through _his _eyes. Of course, it won't protect him from the majority of my attacks, but all the same..how interesting..."_

"You're Orochimaru's pet!" Kisame said suddenly, recognition striking him. He had seen those white eyes before, "The one originally from Otogakure..well, well, well. You're right, Itachi. This is no ordinary genin, chunin, or whatever you want to call him. This boy is about as extraordinary as they come!"

"I'm flattered." Shinri said in a tone that stated otherwise. He gave a slight pause, and then came back with an uncharacteristically light—"Sorry, but I really must be going, before anyone else notices me missing in the forest."

Kisame took a moment to marvel again at this kid. He had waltzed into some rather important talk, and didn't show an ounce of fear on his face. There was nothing to indicate that he didn't know who he and Itachi were-otherwise the kid wouldn't have slid that membrane in front of his eyes. Now after this random encounter, the kid had the nerve to just give his farewells and leave? On top of all of that, he had sneaked out of the examination without anyone even aware of his being gone?

The shark ninja allowed himself a small smile. Orochimaru's boy, to be sure!

Itachi quickly considered his options. He could let the boy go, and run the risk of having him tell someone about the Akatsuki's involvement with the exam, or he could kill him on the spot, and then run the risk of exposure due to a dead body with the markings of an Uchiha's killing all over it. Either way didn't look good. Itachi wasn't used to compromising his first instincts for anything, and his first instinct was to kill this so called genin/chuunin who had crept up on some rather important goings on. Had he heard the part about Satora Tasogare?

Of course, if the boy really was who Kisame said he was, then there was a whole other world of options opened up. Choices, choices, choices. It was Itachi's middle name. He had so many, which one to choose?

Kisame gave a very unhelpful look to his partner.

Itachi scowled. He had been backed into a corner without even throwing a punch, and he had a rather ominous feeling that this kid had planned it that way. He had made his decision.

"You're a slippery player, my friend." Itachi nodded, "Very slippery. The Akatsuki would be lucky to have you someday. Fine then, get out of here, but tell no one that you saw us, or next time I won't hesitate to kill you."

"Sounds like a plan." Shinri said in an even tone, "I won't hesitate either, next time we meet." He took three steps backwards, and fell off the battlements in a free fall.

Kisame stepped forwards, and peered over the edge, "he's gone."

"We should be, too." Itachi's voice was short, and he sounded irritated, "_"I won't hesitate either…_what a bloody…" Itachi shook his head, and his scowl deepened, "Come on, let's get out of here before someone else finds us, and gives us a real problem.."

The Uchiha stooped and picked up the panda mask, tied it back to his face. In a puff of smoke, both he and his partner were gone.


	14. Blows Your Hair Back

After swiftly taking his leave of the scene on the battlements, it took Shinri a matter of minutes to get back into the Forest of Death. He flew through he city on light toes, and before he knew it was back at the training ground. It was no matter for him to slip past the jonin guards that were stationed at the forest's perimeter, no matter at all. Shinri ducked swiftly into the hole in the fence he had noticed even before the exam had begun, and he was in. it was as simple as that

No one had seen him either leaving, or coming back because he had not wanted to be seen. The truth was as plain as that. Shinri dusted off his hands once he got totally back inside, and he was in no way surprised to find Makuro standing there when he turned around.

"Welcome back." Kuro said with no question in his voice. He took two steps towards his friend, into a pool of sunlight. It was shafting in through the trees at a considerably different angle than it had when the day first started. Both boys crained their heads back, and took note of this. It was getting later. The night of the first day was fast approaching. They should be thinking about making camp.

"We have to finish this now!" Shinri said abruptly in way of greeting, pushing past his fellow cell member, and without preamble jumped for the lowest bough of the nearest tree. Makuro followed him step for step, jump for jump, without any comment. Soon the two cell members were up and running in the trees like they had the first part of the day.

"Any chance you're going to tell me why?" Makuro asked curiously as the pair of them flashed through the trees. They headed towards the tower in the center of the arena without a spoken word of agreement. Kuro was reading uncharacteristic waves of urgency and alarm from the snake ninja alongside of him, and was acting accordingly. Whatever Shinri had to say at this point was worth listening too.

At last, after what may have been a half an hour, Shinri felt that he could speak safely about what he had seen. He told Makuro everything, without reserve. This was the time for trust among his cell members.

"Itachi Uchiha, eh?" Makuro said quietly. He had heard all about the Uchiha, of course. The name was mud in Yorugakure obviously because of what they had done in the village. There was no masking it, however. They were certainly the most dangerous ninja clan to ever strap on a headband or pick up a kunai, and Itachi was probably the most accomplished of them all.

This Kisame ninja.. Makuro didn't know much about him, except that he was originally from Kirigakure. Interesting. Maybe he knew Yoake, then. That would also complicate things. There were too many loose ends in this plan, which was why Kuro had disagreed with it so vehemently in the beginning. There were altogether too many variables depending on the free will of too many dangerous players for Kuro's liking.

Makuro didn't know much about the Akatsuki, except that they were a notorious group of rogue ninja villains. They seemed like the wrong bunch of guys to mess with, which was for sure. So they were in on this thing too, then? Wonderful. Maybe they could all have a tea party later. Wouldn't that be lovely?

Makuro scoweled.

"I went into the tent before I came back into the arena," Shinri was saying. He pulled a Heaven scroll from his pocket, "And stole this. We don't have time to steal one from anyone else in a fight, and if they count them up and find something wrong, then I'm sure Yoake will pull some strings."

It was unlike Shinri to overlook a detail like this, Makuro noted. The snake ninja continued.

"We need to get to the tower as soon as possible before something else drops in on us. Itachi already found Satora."

Makuro came to a screeching halt.

Shinri actually kept going for a few seconds before he realized that he had left his cell member far behind in the trees. He doubled back quickly.

"What? Come on! We have to find Sato, and get to the tower!"

"This way!" Makuro snapped, and he was suddenly off. It took all of Shinri's speed and skill to keep up with the boy this time. Something was driving Kuro, something powerful.

"What did you sense, Kuro?" Shinri panted. He barely had enough breath to spare at the frantic pace he was leaping at. This was the first time in memory that he had addressed his stoic team member by any name other than, 'Linen-head', 'Seiroyuki' or any other such name. It was also the first time in memory that he was having trouble keeping up with someone. That was two for the books.

Makuro stopped dead again, but this time Shinri was ready for it. The pair of them stood motionless in the fading light.

Shinri was breathing hard. After a few minutes he managed to compose himself.

"Where is she?"

"Can't you feel it?" Makuro whispered?  
Shinri quelled a shaft of annoyance that stabbed at his mind. They didn't have time for this! The tower was the only place they could be safe in this forest, with Rogue-ninja and missing-nin like Kisame. Itachi, and Orochimaru around.

All the same Shinri pointed his nose in the air and took a deep breath. The smell of chakra was in the air, almost like a residue. Something big had gone down here.

"Where is she?" Shinri repeated once more, his patience wearing thin.

Makuro must have felt that, because he pointed at a place to their lower left.

Satora was sitting the wide bough of an oak limb. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, and she had wrapped her arms around them rather protectively. It didn't take a genius to see that something crushing had happened to the girl.

Makuro was the first to jump down. Actually, he more lowered himself on his linens slowly as not to surprise the girl. Sato raised her head off her elbows and stared at her friend. Kuro was a little shocked to see that she had been crying.

"Kuro, is it really you?" Sato asked in a small voice. Kuro had never seen her like this before, ever. Even in their childhood. What had reduced his strong friend to this pool of tears?

One man. Itachi. Kuro looked back up at Shinri. He had not moved from his perch, but seemed eager to get a move on.

"Who was it?" Makuro asked rather vaguely, squatting down to her level. His gaze was next drawn to her curse scars. They were throbbing green. It was a more brilliant and vibrant shade than he had ever seen emanate from her. Carefully, almost daringly, he took her by the arm, and pulled her to her feet, "Sato, we have to get going. The only place for us is the tower."

"We have three more days." Sato said rather distantly.

"Change of plans." Shinri was among them. He had dared to come down, and looked impatient, "The game's afoot, and it looks like the player line-up has changed."

"But Yoake said—"

"Forget what Yoake said!" Shinri snapped impatiently, sounding more like himself. Real and true agitation was radiating from his eyes, "She doesn't know what's happened. Sato, you saw him, you probably just fought him now. You know what we're dealing with isn't what we planned. We aren't ready to take on the Akatsuki, or even Itachi! Well… You certainly aren't."

The look on Sato's face slowly went from dazed to confused, to a look of dawning understanding. Lastly, her face shifted into that familiar expression of resolve, even if it was a little soft around the edges yet.

"That's my girl!" Kuro said softly, squeezing her on the arm.

"What about the heaven scroll?" Sato gave her head a little shake as though to clear it. Kuro felt that she could stand on her own, so he released her arm.

"Got it." Shinri produced the small role from its place in his pocket, "Kuro still has his earth scroll, and we're all set. We'll have to let Yoake know why we retreated to the tower so early. Come on. if we hurry, we can make it before nightfall."

"Can you do it?" Kuro asked Sato quietly.

"Of course I can!" Sato raised her head, and tossed her hair. She had gotten her nerve back, "Alright, then. Let's get to that tower, and when we're the first team to waltz in there. every rogue ninja and missing-nin in town will know better than to mess with us!"

"Whatever blows your hair back, princess.." Shinri said shortly, "For Gosh sakes, we have to _GO!"_

Ten seconds later (Sato had to redo her hair) They were off.


	15. Ramen and a pillow

It was nearly two hours later that the Night cell managed to get to the tower. They had been running low on daylight and energy in the end, even getting lost once or twice before Kuro set them on the right path. Even now as they stood in the shadow of the guard tower, they were fast loosing the sun. Dusk was settling over the forest, and all three of them were glad to be done with this part of the exam. Every obstacle that had been placed to trip them up was carefully avoided, thanks to Makuro's Kekkei Genkai. All the same, he could not steer them clear of their fatigue. The fact was that they were all hungry and tired.

Yoake was waiting for them at the bottom of the tower, and she didn't look all that pleased. Their sensai was wearing her Yorukage robes, which suggested that she had been meeting with the Hokage.

"Please don't say anything, sensai!" Sato said as the three of them strolled up to her, "I'm famished, and I need sleep. Give me a pillow and a bowl of ramen, and I will tell you anything that you want—_in the morning!!!"_

To Makuro's surprise, Yoake pulled from the folds of her yorukage robe a steaming bowl of ramen, and a feather pillow, and handed them over to the girl without a word.

All the randomness of that moment was lost on Sato. The girl actually laid down on the ground with a pillow under her head and a bowl of ramen next to her. Makuro and Shinri had a few seconds to marvel in the strangeness of their world before Yoake beckoned to the pair of them to follow her as she

"I was in the observatory." She said in a low voice, looking very severe, "And I saw you three coming in like the devil was on your heels. Now, I know both of you are the tactical, analytical types, so I assume that you wouldn't have come in against direct orders unless there was a drastic emergency. So.." Yoake nodded, "Let's hear!"

Makuro gave a careful look back at Sato's still form. She had either fallen asleep very fast right there in the middle of the clearing, or was very good at pretending. The linen-clad ninja returned his attention to his sensai.

"It's a long story, Yoake." Kuro muttered.

Yoake scowled, "Can't be that long, you were barely in the forest!"

Makuro told his sensai everything about the confrontation between Sato and Itachi. What details he did not know for sure he surmised using his unfailing logic. After his tale was finished, Shinri dived into his account of his meeting with Kisame and Itachi before Yoake could even digest what had been told to her by the last one. When both boys were finished with their accounts, they stood back and waited for Yoake's verdict

Yoake looked very stern for a few seconds, then she shook her head and said in an even tone, "This certainly changes everything."

"To right it does." Shinri rowled, arms crossed across his chest, "What are we going to do about it?"

"I don't know yet." Yoake pulled off her Yorukage's hat, and ran her fingers through her hair. It was a habit she had, one that she only exhibited when she was under duress, "You played it as well as I thought you would, Shinri, but for gosh sakes you should have known that there's no way to sneak up on Itachi."

Shinri shrugged, "What else could I have done?"

"Personally I wouldn't have stuck around as long as you did, Shinri." Yoake admitted, giving her head a small shake, "Like I said, you did well. The only thing that might come back and bite you is the fact that you backed Itachi into a corner. He won't like that, which—"

"Might complicate things even more." Makuro finished grimly.

"Exactly." Yoake looked around her rather nervously, "We'll talk about this more in Yorugakure. You three are the second team to come in, give me your scrolls, and you can go home—"

"WHAT?"

Sato sat straight up, upsetting the bowl of ramen, spilling it all over the ground. She didn't seem to care, and her mouth was wide open. There was no trace of sleep in here eyes now they were alert and blazing.

"We weren't the first team to get in? T-that's impossible!" She exclaimed.

Kuro felt that he had to agree. Tactically they had the definite upper hand among their fellow genin in the competition. There was no team that would have been able to best them, and he felt no pride in those words.

He sent a quizzical look to his sensai. Yoake looked midly amused and annoyed at the same time. It was the same look that had been on her face when the three of them had shown up.

"Surprised are you, eh? I was too, actually. Suna's cell got here three hours before you did. It's a new record, they shattered the last one by at least six hours. They've gone home to Sunagakure already. "

"Well that ruined my day." Sato muttered mutinously, looking at her bowl of spilled ramen. Weather the girl was talking about being bested in the exam, or her capsized food, none of them would ever know.

Wordlessly Shinri handed over his heaven scroll, and Makuro fished his Earth scroll from out of one of the many pockets on his robe.

"Good." Yoake said, taking the scrolls, "Go home and get some rest. I'll have to do some serious thinking about all of this… I'll see you all in the morning."

"Anything changed about the third part of the exam?" Shinri asked, trying to get the conversation back onto a level he was comfortable with.

"Actually, yes." Yoake nodded, "The procters of this exam are expecting more genin than ever to make it out of the forest alive, and to weed only the best out there will be a preliminary round for the third part of the testing."

Pause…

"Preliminaries?" Sato asked quietly, sitting up even straighter, "We didn't expect that, did we?"

"We weren't expecting most of the things that have happened since we launched this plan!" Makuro said darkly, also crossing his arms across his chest, "I still stand by what I said before—"

"We know what you said before, Makuro!" Yoake said a little impatiently, "And yes, yes, we see all along that you were right. Now, if you would kindly save the gloating until I can think of a way out of this..that would be wonderful."

Sato gave a small excuse for a smile, "Can't wait to see who I'm paired up against in the preliminaries…"

Yoake penetrated the girl with a hard stare that was contrasted sharply by the gentleness of her voice, "Satora.. are you alright??

"Yeah, as I'll ever be." Sato shrugged. She looked as tired as any of them.

"Go home, that's an order." Yoake said, "A mission, if you will. Two days, my friends. Be in Konoha in two days, meet me by the north gate. Rested and ready to fight, if it so please you.."

"Where will you be?" Kuro asked.

"Don't worry about that, just get out of here." Yoake snapped.

Sato shrugged, and looked over at her teammates. She slowly got to her feet

"Shall we go, guys?"

Shinri nodded, as did Makuro. There was a puff of smoke, and the three of them were up and away.

Yoake smiled to herself, and called, "Not so hopeless now, are they Kakashi?"

The lean ninja materialized from the shadows without a word, hands in his pockets.

"I suppose so. How did you know I was there?"

"I'm Yorukage, Kakashi!" Yoake said wryly, "Someone is almost always spying on me."

Kakashi bobbed his head, "It is to be expected. I have to admit, your cell seems to be working together a lot better. Times of trial tend to unify even the most bitter of enemies."

Yoake sighed, and cocked her head, "I suppose you mean Shinri and Sato?"

"None other."

Yoake frowned, "Seeing Itachi really shook Shinri up, I could tell. Sato was on edge too, and I think the only reason she survived that meeting was because Itachi needs her alive almost as much as we do. I should have expected that Uchiha would show his face again, I just never imagined that he would have the raw nerve to actually make a move on her right here, right now."

"He's Itachi." Kakashi said simply, "He can do almost whatever he wants to do, and we will either never know, or be powerless to stop."

"Right. Anyways, like I was saying, there seemed to be an uneasy truce between the two of them. Shinri and Sato, I mean." Yoake gave a small grin, "Finally, they were able to put their petty differences aside, at least for the moment. Do you know how long I have been trying to pound that into their heads?"

Kakashi gave a humorless laugh, "Watch, when you go back to the Village Hidden in the Night, they will have killed each other!"

Yoake shook her head, "I hope not, but I don't think that will happen. All three of them are too tired to even bicker. How is your cell doing?"

"They had a run-in with Orochimaru." Kakashi's voice remained calm, though Yoake could tell this alarmed him quite a bit, "They managed to escape with their lives, though. Barely."

Yoake closed her eyes, and sighed, "I am starting to think that none of this is worth it. Makuro was right-there are too many questions left unanswered, too many all to plausible scenarios that might come to pass…and none of them really have any answers."

"The answers will come to you, Yoake!" Kakashi said simply in his typical logic.

Yoake slowly shook her head, and pulled her Yorukage's hood back on, "Things are really going to start popping once the third part of the exam comes to past. You think we're having problems now, wait ti'll later!"

"I can't wait." Kakashi said rather darkly.


	16. Taijutsu?

Here we are now 

_**With the fallen sky**_

_**And the rain**_

_**We're awakening**_

_**Here we are now **_

_**With the desperate youth**_

_**And the pain**_

_**We're awakening**_

_**Maybe it's called ambition**_

_**You've been talking in your sleep**_

_**About a dream…**_

You're awakening 

_**I want to wake up kicking and screaming**_

_**I want to know that my hearts still beating**_

_**Its beating, I'm bleeding**_

_**I want to wake up kicking and screaming**_

_**I want to live like I know what I'm leaving**_

_**I want to know that my hearts still beating**_

_**It's beating**_

_**I'm bleeding**_

_**It's beating..**_

_**IM BLEEDING—**_

Sato awoke with a start, bolting straight up in bed, biting back a scream. Cold sweat had beaded on her pretty forehead, and she clenched her fists around the sheets tightly.

The dream—

Sunlight was streaming in through her bedroom windows, with the promise of a new day. The bright rays had a freshly minted look, and Sato looked over at her bedside clock, breathing rather heavily. It was seven thirty.

Sato caught her breath for a few more seconds, and wiped her brow with her left arm. The young Tasogare paused in this action, drawing her arm away and peering intently at the curse scars etched in her skin. They were throbbing dimly, a pale green.

_The Dream…my curse…_

Sato could hear birds chirping outside of her room. The cheeriness of the morning contrasted violently with what she was feeling on the inside.

The dream had come to her again in the night, tearing at the very fiber of her being with sharp claws. It had dragged her from the safety of the mental walls she put up for herself, thrashed her soundly, and had left her broken again.

Again. She hadn't had the dream for nearly a month.

Sato screwed up her eyes, and rubbed her temples. Every time the dream came, it was worse and wracked her senses even more. And each time the images that came to mind were more and more vivid….

_Her mother, her father, her brother….her cousins, her aunt, her uncle, her grandparents.._

**"**Stop it!" Sato muttered to herself, as those fleeting memories of the dream threatened to get back in. Sato untwisted herself from her bed sheets, and swung her legs out over the bed, her toes dangling about six inches from the ground.

_…All gone, all dead and gone forever. "The legends are a lie, Satora. The Tasogare are as mortal as the next man."_

"Stop it!" Sato repeated a little more vehemently, standing this time. She gave a quick gasp—pain shot up and down her legs and she sat back down quick. Sato sat there on the edge of her bed, contemplating this new development. Slowly, carefully she raised her right leg.

The pain came again this time, but Sato was ready for it. As far as she could tell, her muscles were just incredibly sore. With this knowledge, she stood again.

Sato managed to stifle another gasp, but the pain was still there. Cautiously she rolled her shoulders and found that same stiffness there too in her arms. No doubt these aches were coming from her experience in the forest of death. Sato gave a sigh, and let the air hiss out over her teeth. She should have trained more before the second part of the exam had begun, if she had done that she wouldn't be so sore right now.

"Out of shape." Sato murmured to herself scornfully.

_Crouching down next to the body of her dead mother…holding her cold lifeless hand and finding it slippery with blood…_

Sato closed her eyes again, and swayed a little. The dream—

_Confusion, running from prone form to prone form, asking again why they won't get up, screaming, screaming...slipping…falling…._

"STOP IT!" Sato threw her head back and howled.

The dream could attack her at night when her mind was most vulnerable, but she would not allow it to take her when the sunlight was so evident.

Ignoring the pain in her legs and arms, Sato walked to her bathroom and went through her usual morning routine. Ten minutes later she had eaten breakfast, and was out the door.

As far as manors went, the Tasogare estate wasn't all that big. It was still the largest living quarters in the entire village. back in the day it had been the home of the entire Tasogare clan. Fifteen years later, the only person living in there was a lonely teenager who still has nightmares about the day her family was killed.

Sato forced herself to whistle a merry tune as she walked down the path from the front door out to the main road, and headed into town. The usual bounce in her step was gone due to the fact that it caused her considerable pain to even put one foot in front of the other.

There were very few people up and about this early in a village so small. Those who were out getting the paper or something of the like gave Sato a polite smile as she passed.

Sato would nod in return, and continue. Today she was not in the mood to socialize. Today she wanted to train. To get on her game. To be ready for the third part of the exam.

Another ten minutes later, and Satora was in the center of the village, waiting for the rest of her cell at the fountain.

Makuro was the first to come out of the village, shuffling along and looking rather tired. He rented room and board above the ramen shop, and Sato had only been there once in all the time she knew him. Predictably, it was bare to the cupboards, the only decoration being on the coat rack when Kuro hung his trench coat every night. Sato often joked that the stoic linen-clad ninja could be happy in a box. Nothing was too plain or basic for her mummified friend.

Makuro gave a curt nod to his friend as he sat down next to Sato.

The two of them sat there for a good fifteen minutes, waiting for either Shinri or Yoake. Neither broke the silence, or even mentioned the previous days events. They both knew that there were still probably cells out there in the training ground, but only time would tell who would actually survive that part of the exam.

At long last Yoake appeared but not from the village, but from the forest. What had she been doing in there? The Lady Yorukage was in her Kunoichi outfit, looking lithe and ready for action. She pointed at Sato, and said, "Follow me."

Wordlessly both Sato and Makuro rose, but Yoake shook her head, and pointed at Sato once more, "Just the Tasogare. Come on, kid we have to go."

Sato shot a questioning look at Makuro, but he could offer no answer. She smiled weakly at him, and hurried off after Yoake.

Yoake headed back the way she had come. A thousand questions were going around in Sato's head, but she kept them to herself with some difficulty.

Sunlight was streaming through the leaves, and it got considerably cooler in the shade. Sato rubbed her bare arms, and wished she had grabbed a sweatshirt from her home. It was too late for that now. Satora set her teeth, and concentrated on blocking the throbbing soreness that was still shooting up and down her body.

Sato was willing to bet that neither Shinri nor Makuro were walking around as sore as she was. She could have expected it—Shinri was almost always out in the forest doing something or other and was kept in shape in that manner. As for Makuro, Sato still didn't know how he trained.

Yoake could probably sense the pain she was in, because she looked around at her young charge, and said quietly, "You're sore, aren't you?"

"Of course I am." Sato snapped back with a little more venom than what she had been planning—her thigh had given an especially nasty twitch, "After yesterday? What did you expect?"

" You'd best stretch some before we get where we're going." Yoake said flatly.

Sato took her sensei's advice; occasionally stopping to bend over and touch the ground with her palms, or do some ankle squats. They hurt like bloody hell, but at least her muscles weren't hurting so much anymore.

Yoake lead the way West. Soon Sato was totally lost, but she did not let a complaint pass her lips. Perhaps this was some sort of strange test. The sun rose higher and higher in the sky, and still the two of them trekked onwards.

At last they came out on an open clearing. Sato immediately recognized it from her earlier days as a genin. She Shinri and Makuro had gone through many rigorous training exercises in this part of the village, but hadn't been back here in at least seven or eight months.

Sato felt something stir in her midriff, "Umm…Sensei, what do you have in mind?"

Yoake's face was very grave. There was no light in those green eyes on this morning.

"Last night I realized that this plan may put your life in more danger than what I anticipated. With the Akatsuki actively involved far sooner than I had thought, the three of you need to step your game up a few notches. Consider this training not only for the exam, but for the battle that we all know is coming."

Sato took a deep breath. The pain in her legs seemed like nothing right now compared to the thoughts that were now spinning around in her head.

_I'm the only one here that needs to 'step my game up'. The other two are fine, it me that's lagging behind. I've never had real training, I've always thought that because I'm a Tasogare, that I don't need to worry about failing. Yesterday I was proved wrong, and everyone here knows it. I'm just like everyone else, the only thing different about me is that I have these scars…._

Sato glanced moodily at her rune scars as Yoake continued.

"I did not expect the Akatsuki to be involved this early in the plan. You could say I was totally shocked when I was told about you and Itachi in the forest. I wanted to write it off as a fluke, as maybe a sound jonin under a disguise, but in my heart I knew it really was Itachi. Firstly there was the haunted look in your eyes that really confirmed it. Then there was Shinri's tale of the scene on the battlements. I'm just sorry I wasn't there to protect you."

Sato felt another twinge. _Who would have thought I'd ever need protecting?_

Still Yoake continued, "Sato, I can almost promise you that from here on out every battle you face will have you against an opponent who will know how to exploit your weaknesses. Now, we want avoid that as much as possible so I'm going to need to teach you to rely on something other than the obvious."

"What do you mean?" Sato asked cautiously.

"If you and I were going to fight, the first thing I would do is somehow find a way to block the flow of that incredible amount of chakra stirring around in that small body of yours. If I could do that, it would effectively leave you helpless, and there would be no way for you to defend yourself. Do you see where I'm going with this? That would be like me totally relying on a fire-based ninjutsu as my primary offensive maneuver. When a water-nin comes along, and douses my flames, where does that leave me? Without any other means of attack or defense."

"I get it." Sato said flatly, "Like when I was fighting Itachi. I discovered that he could see past my ultimate defense, the hiding in shadow's technique. I didn't know what to do at that point because I didn't' have a backup plan."

"Itachi is going to use that fact to his advantage next time you two meet." Yoake said grimly, "And you can be sure Sasuke will do the same. What we need to work on is getting you a fallback set of moves."

"What are the chances of my chakra supply running out, or whatever?" Sato asked, "I mean, I have so much chakra running through me that they had to cut my arm open so it could escape! That flow isn't going to be stemmed easily!"

"Neji Hyuga." Yoake shouted unexpectedly, eyes narrowing, "Konoha. With the brush of a finger he could seal all your chakra inside of you, which would in time kill you. Shino Aburame, also Konoha. All the little beetles he commands love a good feast of chakra. They would eat you up before you could even open your mouth in a word of protest. Kakashi Hatake, Konoha. His sealing jutsus could leave you in a very bad spot. Orochimaru and his curse mark would make more problems than what I'd like to handle. The list goes on, would you like to hear it?"

Silence fell, and Sato's ears were ringing.

"I'm sorry, sensei." Sato said quietly, "I should have thought about that before I said it. I get it, I get it. I can't only rely on my Tasogare powers to get me out of fights anymore."

"I'm sorry too, I shouldn't' have shouted." Yoake shook her head, and looked a lot older than what she really was. Sato's heart gave a sympathetic twinge.

"So what are you going to teach me then?" Sato asked humbly.

"For now I want to steer clear of anything to do with chakra." Yoake said, 'So that of course means that we'll have to teach you some extensive Taijutsu."

"Taijutsu?" Sato exclaimed before she could stop herself, "That takes years of hard training, how am I supposed to learn enough to save myself in a few—."

Yoake held on hand up, and Sato quieted.

"You will learn taijutsu, an you will learn it well. Right now the only taijutsu you know is what you graduated from the academy with. I don't except you to become a master in the next few weeks, but I do want to see some progress. This isn't just your life we're talking about here, Sato. The entire village rests upon if you have what it takes to stay alive."

"Alright, then." Sato said rather moodily, folding her arms and regretting it at once as the gave a painful throb, "Let's get started."

"Your teacher should be here any minute now." Yoake said, glancing around the clearing.

Sato blinked, "Wait…you're not going to teach me this taijutsu?"

"Of course not." Yoake smiled, turning again to face the young Tasogare, "I'm no good at taijutsu, I'm more of a genjutsu girl myself. Your teacher is good, trust me. He'll tell you what you need to know."

"Who is it?" Sato felt her curiosity rising, "Who did you ask to teach me taijutsu?"

"Sorry I'm late, Yoake." A flat voice called from behind them both.

Just before Sato turned to see the new arrival, Yoake grinned, "Have fun!" and was gone in a flash.

Sato ground teeth when she saw who had stepped into the clearing. She was face to face with none other than Hebigiru Shinri.


	17. A failed attempt

It took Sato at least ten seconds to realize that her mouth was wide open, and that she was gaping. She still couldn't believe what she was seeing. Surely Shinri wasn't going to be the one to teach her!

Yet the snake ninja was standing there across the clearing looking oddly triumphant, and Sato had known him long enough to understand that Shinri never looked triumphant unless he had really scored a great victory.

"There is no way that you're the one who Yoake was talking about." Sato said flatly through gritted teeth. She stared him down, eyes narrowed in dislike.

"Surprise, surprise, eh Tasogare?" Shinri said smoothly, lacing his fingers together and cracking his knuckles, "I do out rank you, though, so it's safe to say that I'm entitled to train you."

Sato almost rose to the bait set in front of her, but controlled the urge. She and Shinri may have called a temporary truce while the second part of the exam had been going on, but now that it was over there was no way that the two of them were going to be anything more than enemies. Things were starting to get back to the norm, and the norm was Shinri taunting, and Sato falling for the taunts every single time.

It wasn't going to happen again. Not today. No doubt it was Yoake's version of a test to see if they had learned anything from the trials in the second part of the exam.

_What was Yoake thinking? _Sato thought, scowling, _She knows I can't stand Shinri, and that we'll probably end up at each other's throats within the minute. I bet she's sitting up in a tree back in forest just watching is…and having a great laugh at my expense…_

These bitter thoughts whizzed around in Sato's mind as Shinri took a few more steps towards his fellow cellmate.

"I didn't know you were an expert at taijutsu." Sato said shortly.

"I expect what you don't know would fill several scrolls, Tasogare." Shinri said, a light brimming in his eyes. He was egging her on, and she knew it. It took almost all of her self-control not to slug him in the gut. She was close enough that this wouldn't have been a problem at all.

"Let's get to it then, alright?" Sato said, jamming her hands in her pockets.

"Alright," Shinri said in that same smooth voice. He stepped back a few paces, and said, "Attack me."

Sato looked up, "What?"

"Come at me, Satora. Like you want to kill me. I know you do."

Sato cocked her head, 'I don't want to kill you though."

_Although the prospect now seems mighty tempting._

"Yeah, you do." Shinri said with maddening accuracy.

"No, I just want to slug you." Sato shrugged.

Shinri stopped, and sent the Tasogare a withering glare, "Just do it, Satora. Do it with conviction. Do it like I was Sasuke Uchiha. Like you're avenging your clan."

The curse scars up and down Sato's left arm flared a deep crimson red at the sound of that name. Sato's eyes were suddenly wild, but Shinri put up one hand.

"But here's the catch, Tasogare. No jutsu's.. Come at me with only your basic skills, if you have any. Come at me with every intention to kill… use that Kekkei Genkai power of yours if you must….but no chakra."

The light in Sato's curse scars flickered and died. Sato stared at Shinri blankly for a moment.

Shinri cracked a wide smile, "You don't know how, do you? You've never made a rush at anyone without a blanket of dark shadow to cover your skinny ass, eh? Doesn't surprise me, looks like we're going to have to start from scratch. Come at me, no jutsu's, no bloodline traits. Just pure strength and speed."

Sato could feel her blood boiling, and knew Shinri had planned it this way. With her Tasogare powers he was no match for her, but without them she would easily fall victim to his strength and stamina. The knowledge of this fact was burrowing into her skin.

"Whatever you say _Master _Hebigiru." Sato spat. She pulled a kunai from her belt, and launched herself across the clearing at her fellow cellmate, with every intention to kill.

As Sato closed in on Shinri, time slowed down as the snake ninja made a move towards her. In that moment, Sato finally realized the one drawback of her kekkei Genkai—While she could see Shinri's movements, she could not understand the methods behind them.

For a wild moment Sato thought that she had Shinri in the palm of her hand. He thrust at her midriff with two fingers, and she easily stepped them and came in closer. She didn't even have time to wipe the grin off her face as the unthinkable happened.

He came in from behind her, and even though she could still slow down his movements at will she knew he was coming faster than normal-the inhuman speed blur around his entire form was enough for her to gather this. Warning bells went off in the young Tasogare's head, and she whirled around.

Another Shinri was heading for her at the same speed foot extended in what would be a very nasty kicj The snake ninja had cloned himself in a ridiculously short amount of time, and now she had two opponents bearing down on her.

Now three. Sato's eyebrows knitted together. This third Shinri had a kunai on him. She was effectively pinned, and all three of the Shinri clones looked like they meant business

And there was nowhere for her to go.

It was all over in two seconds. Sato had managed to block the kunai of the third Shinri with her own, and sidestep the first Shinri, but her actions had left no way for her to defend against the third clone. Sato felt a terrible pain in her side as the said clone scored a fantastic kick to her side.

Sato gasped, and stumbled back. She hadn't been caught unaware, she had just simply been outwitted. The girl gingerly felt her side…no ribs had been broken but she certainly was going to be sore for a while.

"Shoddy." The real Shinri had apparently been the third one who got the kick (Sato cursed inwardly), and he was eyeing his fellow cell member with distaste in his eyes, "That was very poor. Try again. Come, Sato."

"Why do you get to use jutsu's and stuff on me, and I can't use them on you?" Sato protested, her grip on her kunai tightening.

"The world isn't fair, Sato. You'll have to live with it like the rest of us mortals." Shinri said delicately, falling into a graceful fighting stance.

Sato howled like a wounded animal, and charged the snake ninja. It took a lot of her reserve to hold back her anger, and not call her Tasogare powers to destroy the boy. Sato made doubly sure to keep an eye out for any clones.

Shinri easily dodged every single one of her knife thrusts with ease. Maddeningly the snake ninja had his hands folded behind his back, and a smug smile plastered onto his face as he danced around the clearing.

"You'll have to focus more if you want to even touch me!" Shinri said calmly after another spectacular miss, "Come again, Sato."

This time when she rushed him, he tripped her without any effort.

Sato lay there on her back panting, staring at the sky. Shinri leaned over her, and though the expression on his face was silhouetted by the sun Sato was pretty sure it was one of amusement.

"Get up. Try again."

"So much for actually teaching me anything, are you just going to beat me up and humiliate me?" Sato spat, scrambling to her feet. The kunai was still in her fist, and her knuckles white from squeezing the handle so hard, "You couldn't be enjoying this any more, could you?"

"No, but then again you never know." Shinri's tongue snaked out over his serrated teeth and he leered at her unpleasantly.

In that moment, Shinri looked so much like his father that Sato had to take a step back.

She blinked, "Shinri, you—"

"Come, Sato! Shall I make it easier for you! I wont use my hands."

Sato scowled darkly. She was sick and tired of Shinri taking advantage of her. She was tired of his taunts, his catcalls. All she wanted to do right now was pummel him into the ground, thrash him so soundly that he wouldn't even be able to crawl away.

She broke like a dam holding back a rushing river, her curse scars flared to an almost black hue, and started to spark with pure chakra overload. Screaming a harsh chord, Sato let her rage fuel her Tasogare powers until she became a towering pillar of sparking dark energy. It felt so good to vent her fury; it felt like she had finally found a comfortable niche in a wall where she could stare down at the little people who dared stand in her way.

And then she caught sight of Shinri.

Shinri neither looked alarmed at Sato's startling temper tantrum. On the contrary, he looked mildly triumphant. His hands were folded behind his back, and he smiled widely and openly up at her.

"No control, Sato. That's why you won't last a second out in the real world."

Sato bared her teeth, and considered crushing this little worm that dared stand in her path and mock her. She could, and she knew it. Right now in the height of her fit of pure chakra she could simply look at him sideways, and he would be dead. Gone. He would be to her nothing more than a groove into the face of the earth.

But something held her back even as she raised a fist to call down a devastating barrage of shadows. Something told her to contain herself. Something calmed her down enough that she could think clearly.

Was it that damned smugness in Shinri's eyes? The, 'I told you so' that was hanging unspoken in the morning air? Or was it the part of Sato that really was just a scared little girl wanting her mother and father?

Sato screwed her eyes shut, and her mind drifted unbidden back to the Dream—

_Don't think about that._

Sato opened her eyes again, sensing another presence—

Or maybe the reason she really wanted to get a hold of herself was because here was Makuro sprinting out of the forest and into the clearing, waving his arms wildly in an uncharacteristically open manner.

_Kuro. _Sato swallowed hard, and felt her anger ebb away. _Makuro…_

In a matter of seconds, Sato regained her composure, and found herself back on the ground. Refusing to look Shinri's way, she nodded at her linen-clad friend.

"Hey."

"What the hell—" Makuro shook his head, "Never mind—"

"What's going on, Makuro?" Shinri asked calmly, strolling over. His hands were in his pockets, and he looked as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, "You look all worked up."

"Well, I was going to come out here and see what you were all up too, but now that I see you are about to kill each other, maybe we should just go to Konoha and see what we can see." Makuro said, his voice cutting.

"Uh…yeah." Sato's hair still was retaining a lot of static as a result of her blow up—and as she spoke she tried desperately to smooth it out again, "Why don't we…er..go to Konoha. Not like we were getting anything done here anyways."

"We can't just go waltzing into the village!" Shinri protested, slipping his kunai back onto his belt, "We're not welcome there! And besides…I'm supposed to be training Sato."

Makuro snorted, "Yeah, and we all saw how well that was going. Anyways, Yoake is welcome in Konoha and we can always claim that we're part of her entourage. " The linen-clad ninja shrugged, "And anyways I think it's a good idea to get you two into a bigger city where you won't see each other around every corner."

Sato still refused to look Shinri in the eye.

"Sounds good." She said, smiling hard, "But I need to stop back home first. I want to grab some money-I hear the ramen in Konoha is to _die _for."


	18. At the gate

Sato was never really sure how she felt about the village hidden in the leaves. She knew its people were the ones that had organized the attack on Yorugakure, but growing up her anger at the death of her family had never really been diverted towards the village itself and it's people. Indeed, the only thing the young Tasogare was worried about was the uproar her clan markings would cause with the older citizens of the village.

Konoha reared its head proud and strong as the trio crested a hill coming west. They had decided to take the main road to the village from Yoru; it would be a sign of good faith to make their approach to the village much less suspicious than, say, appearing in a small explosion of dark energy among the populous.

The Village Hidden in the Leaves lay at the feet of a diminutive mountain and even from this far away Sato could make out the carved heads of the past leaders of the Land of Fire. The village winked at her with all its suburban glory…

"Konohagakure is in the height of power." Shinri said unexpectedly from the rear, "Military and economic strength. It will be interesting to see how she'll stand after all this is over."

"Amen." Makuro said grimly, "I would just hate to see such a proud city fall."

Sato ignored the conversation behind her. She had only been to Konoha once before, and that had been at the dead of night. Yoake didn't know about it of course, she would have a fit if she knew. All the same, Sato couldn't pretend that she wasn't excited to finally be able to explore the great village without the dead of night as a cover.

It was useless for them to try and hide the Yorugakurene marks on their headbands, almost as much as it was useless for Sato to try and cover the curse marks running up and down her left arm. The trio approached the city gates, heads high and proud, watching the guards for any sign of trouble.

"Let's not try to pull anything over on these guys, ok?" Makuro muttered from the middle of their strange procession, "After they see we're from Yoru they'd love an excuse to bar us from the village."

"Legally they can't, you know." Shinri spoke up from the back of the pack again, "Konoha is extending hospitality to all six of the great ninja villages for the chunin exams, and last time I checked, that includes ours. If they're letting those Suna rats run around in their walls, they certainly will let us in."

"So we say we're here for the exam a day early." Sato mused, "Yeah…I could spend a day here frolicking and cavorting…"

"Or training." Makuro said sternly, "You forget, Sato this isn't going to be easy."

"I won't screw off the entire time, Kuro!" Sato laughed, flipping her hair, "I actually want to get onto some of Konoha's training grounds-they're loads better than the ones we've got back in Yoru!"

The three night ninja were now close enough to the gate that the guards could hail them.

"Where do you come from, and where are you going?"

"We are the night cell from the Village Hidden in the Night!" Makuro answered for both his fellow cellmates, "We are here for the second part of the chunin exams!"

"You're a day early." The shorter of the gate guards said flatly. The three teens ground to a halt in front of the two men and waited patiently, "We were told you would arrive tomorrow at noon."

"Change of plans." Sato said, cocking her head.

The man who had spoken first actually jumped when he saw Sato's curse scars.

_I should have worn a jacket._

"You're the Tasogare!" He exclaimed, and it was not a question/

"Yes, she is." Shinri stepped forward, voice as level as ever, "And we suggest you let us in, unless you want to turn us away now."

"You're early." The shorter man repeated stubbornly, "Your escorts aren't here."

"We don't need escorts, we have the direct consent and permission of our Yorukage to be here!" Makuro said a little sharply (even though what he said was a lie), "She is meeting with the Hokage right this instant, and we both know it. She decided to stay the night here rather than journey back to our village and sent word for us to join her. Now I know that you know that all of this is true, so get out of our way and let us in!"

Sato turned, and penetrated Makuro with a hard glare, "You know, Yoake never told me exactly that she was coming to the Hidden Leaf Village. How do you know she's even here?"

"Where else would she be, Sato?" Kuro muttered, eyes on the shorter man, "Not like there's anything going on in Yoru, all the action is in Konoha. Besides, she told me this was where she was headed."

Shinri was sorely tempted to push past these two men and enter the village anyways, but he kept that urge in check. When dealing with a powerful village like Konoha, one had to keep up the illusion that one cared about their rules.

"Either you let us in or you don't." Shinri said, eyes closed.

The two guards traded glances.

"Fine." The first one said, "You can go in, but report to your Yorukage immediately and wait there for your escorts."

"Escorts..." Shinri and Sato muttered mutinously.

"Thank you!" Kuro said brightly, grabbing both his fellow cell mates by the arms and hauling them along, "We'll get right on that."


	19. Through Konoha

_**Facedown with the L.A curbside endings**_

_**And my ones and Zeroes**_

_**Downtown was a perfect place to hide**_

_**The first star that I saw last night**_

_**Was a headlight, of a man-made sky**_

_**But-Man made never made our dreams come alive**_

_**Last week saw me living for nothing but deadlines**_

_**With my dead-beat sky**_

_**But-this town doesn't look the same tonight**_

_**These dreams started singing to me**_

_**Out of nowhere and in all my life I**_

_**Don't know that I've Ever felt so alive, alive.**_

Konoha was almost the exact opposite of dark and dreary Yorugakure. It was large, it was prosperous, and its people were happy. The three teens couldn't walk a block without seeing a handful of happy and cheery kids running about. The sights and the smells were enough to drive Sato mad-the ramen, the various shops, the vibrant colors. Things here seemed so much more peaceful, and Sato felt more at home than she did even in her own house.

As they headed into the busier part of town, Sato started to attract more and more stares from the people out enjoying the beautiful day. She didn't care-let them look. She was happy, and she was feeling free.

It was only when she started to skip that Shinri told her to put a lid on it.

"Oh, quit being such a sour puss, Snake-charmer!" The young Tasogare laughed. She paused, and realized how long it had been since she had laughed out of real and genuine mirth.

Makuro must have noticed it as well, because he swung around from his position in the front and stared curiously at her, "That's the first non-derisive laugh I've heard you emit since…well, before all this started."

"Someone call the news media." Shinri muttered.

Sato ignored the snake-ninja. She felt really and truly alive…

"I want ramen!" The girl said suddenly, swerving to the right towards a ramen shop.

"Sure, have all the ramen you want-_AFTER _we go to the Hokage's office and get our escorts!" Makuro lashed out with his linens, and they wrapped themselves around Sato's arm, yanking her back to the other side of the street.

Sato could only pout for about two minutes. She was then distracted by some high flying kites, a dog, and then an ice cream stand.

"It's like watching a two year old." Shinri shot Makuro a withering glare.

"At least she's happy." Makuro defended her, "After what happened in that forest…"

"Yeah, I suppose." Shinri jammed his hands in his pockets. They crossed the street to pull Sato away from the ice cream parlor, and continued on their way, "No one could have seen that coming."

"You did." Makuro said meaningfully.

"Sure, but not in time." Shinri bared his teeth, "As much as I dislike Satora, I wouldn't wish Itachi on her."

"Still, you seemed to be able to handle him fairly well."

"Depends on how you were watching that little confrontation." Shinri chuckled, "I knew I had to head them off and say something-_Sato get out of there-_or else they might have killed her. Or me."

"Itachi and Kisame are smarter than that. They know the leader wants Sato alive."

"Hush…" Shinri put a finger to his mouth, eyes darting back and forth, "Don't talk about that here."

The two boys finally roped Sato in, and they came to the ninja academy. Classes were out because of the chunin exam, but the Hokage's office and living quarters were adjacent to the school.

"Looks a lot better than what we went to, eh boys?" Sato said, craning her neck back to take the entire thing in.

Makuro chuckled softly, "We should have gone to school here, we didn't even have a building."

"You two would have gone here if it hadn't been for me, I'm willing to bet." Sato said rather grudgingly, "I heard that before Suna went all crazy with their new Kazekage, Konoha allowed a few kids from there to be exchange students. Of course I couldn't have come since I was still technically a secret."

"Those were the days." Shinri muttered under his breath.

"What was that, snake-charmer?" Sato asked sweetly. She was still sore from her sound thrashing earlier the same day.

"Hmm..." Kuro said, and the three of them went in.


	20. Leaf and Night

"Thank you for seeing me, Lord Hokage." Yoake said, dipping her head respectfully.

"Call me Sarutobi, Yoake. I think we're well past, 'lord' and 'lady' here." The Hokage said, puffing hard on his pipe. This scene was like all the others-the Hokage behind his desk smoking his pipe while Yoake spoke her piece on the other side of the desk.

"I see that you've eliminated the Suna genin." Sarutobi nodded, "In one night"

"We did." Yoake sounded a little uncertain, "Has the Kazekage approached Konoha about the blame of the event? That was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about."

"The only think the Kazekage approached me about was the rest of his genin cells withdrawing from the selections." The Lord Hoke said delicately, "He never mentioned that there were any deaths, but I sent a few ANBU out there and they confirmed your mission."

"We were worried that the blame would fall on Konoha" Yoake lied swiftly, "When really we wanted a swift, silent, and faceless killing."

"The Kazekage mentioned Gaara of the Sand."

Yoake looked up, alarmed, "Our Tasogare had a run-in with him. Do you suppose he took the blame for the killings? I can see why his village would suspect him…"

"That would be the only other option, unless the Kazekage simply doesn't not want to cause a fuss."

"Cause a fuss?" Yoake laughed, "Forgive me, Hokage, but if the Kazekage didn't want to cause a fuss, he wouldn't be plotting to invade Konoha or to kill you."

The Lord Hokage gave a grim smile, "Yes, you're right. It's a mystery, though. Make sure your Tasogare asks him about it should they meet tomorrow."

"About tomorrow…it is absolutely imperative that we rig the random pairings. You know as well as I do that a pairing of Sato against Sasuke would be disastrous for the both of us. You and I will be there watching of course, but there isn't much we can do. The computer decides. What can we do?"

"Hope they don't get paired." The Hokage said in a low voice, "But these things have a terrible habit of happening anyways. Sasuke had a bit of trouble with Orochimaru in the forest of Death."

"What kind of trouble?" Yoake asked carefully. She had a sinking feeling she knew already.

The Lord Hokage hesitated for one second, "The…cursed seal of heaven."

Yoake gasped, "No—"

"He seems to have shaken off the initial effects, but I don't know where its going to go, " The Lord Hokage said. He was no longer puffing on his pipe, "Anko was distressed to hear of this news as well."

"Of _course _she would be distressed, she was the only one who has managed to survive that Seals lasting effects!" Yoake's teeth were set, and she clenched her fists, "One in ten, Hokage. One in ten."

The Lord Hokage looked intently at Yoake, "Now it's your turn to forgive me, Yorukage, but I must as you…did you anticipate this?"

Yoake was thrown off track for one second, but then swiftly regained her composure. She thought she knew what the Lord Hokage was implying, and she resented it. Truthfully, it scared her that he still doubted her intentions like that. They needed trust between them right now if Konoha was going to withstand the coming storm.

"Of course not, Hokage. If you are suggesting that Orochimaru acted under Yorugakure's consent, orders and knowledge…or otherwise…you would be grossly wrong. I still don't think I've explained this…my village and its people hate that snake more than we hate Konoha."

"And the greater of the hatred lead you to ally with the lesser?" The Lord Hokage questioned, "No, Yoake. You have not explained to me why Orochimaru would ruffle you more than the village they eliminated your most powerful clan."

Yoake teetered on the edge of revealing her village's darkest secret, but in the end settled for a slightly toned down version.

"When Orochimaru first joined the Akatsuki with Sasori they went to each of the Villages and killed off whatever clans they thought were most a threat to the cause of the Akatsuki. That included my clan, the Hebigiru, the Seriroyuki, and numerous others. Yorugakure isn't so much a village as a refugee camp where loose ends come to lick their wounds." Yoake had a hard time meeting the Lord Hokage's gaze, "The reason you didn't hear about it was that Orochimaru and his partner were very good at making sure that if Konoha heard, they heard only what they needed to hear to dismiss it as nothing."

Yoake's voice suddenly became harsh, "I was born and raised in Kirigakure, and when Orochimaru destroyed my family after I turned eighteen, your people wrote it off as part of The Hidden Mist Village's gruesome genin selection test. He got the Serioyuki clan as well. Makuro wasn't so lucky as to escape totally intact after that, and our Shinri was born from the monster himself."

"Wait." The Lord Hokage raised his hand, "I am sorry to hear about what Orochumaru did to you, but if Shinri is Orochimaru's son, how is his clan name Hebigiru?"

"Because Orochimaru is a master of guises and secrecy, " Yoake ploughed on, sounding tired, "He has had many numerous aliases, the grass-nin at the start of the third part of the exam was just one of them. Shinri can't go around saying that he's the son of the most hated man our village has ever seen, but he also needs a clan name."

"Your entire village has in some way been touched by Orochimaru?"

"Yes." Yoake actually had to pause and think about what had made her launch into the story. After two seconds it came to her, "So why would Yoru even tolerate the idea of an alliance with them?"

"Very well, once more forgive me for suspecting you." The Lord Hokage apologized, "But this brings me to another point-will Orochimaru approach you about joining him in this invasion plan, or will he immediately assume you'd hate him as well?"

"That's still up in the air, Hokage, but here is my theory." Yoake cocked her head and continued, "Orochimaru's greatest fear is that my village will become strong again and crush him. The Tasogare clan was our first hope at doing that, and once it was destroyed I think he assumes that our primary hatred would go for the village that trampled our hopes."

The Hokage's face remained motionless, but Yoake was sure that his thoughts were racing on the inside. She continued.

"What he doesn't understand is that we still reserve a burning hatred for the man that wounded us to begin with. The man that lengthened the healing time we have no lasting spite for."

"Me." The Lord Hokage said, inclining his head.

"Actually, I think Orochimaru might have been playing both sides there." Yoake mused, staring up at the ceiling.

"What do you mean?" Sarutobi looked confused, "I ordered the hit!"

"Right, but your ANBU and military police came back with the report. Do you realize how easy it would have been for Sasori to kill some of your men while they were spying on my village, make undead puppets out of them, and convince you that the Tasogare needed to be crushed?" Yoake shrugged, "That's just me going out a limb here. I don't know for sure, I was only a kid when all this happened."

The Lord Hokage rubbed his temples, "But that would mean that Orochimaru…and that you were only…dear Lord my head hurts."

"Yeah, mine does too. Sorry for the tangent, sir, but back to my original point, I think Orochimaru wrongly considers himself the lesser of Yoru's hate. Therefore shortly I think he'll be threatening us to join him…or else."

"What else could he do to you?"

"With Orochimaru's twisted imagination, I have no idea." Yoake said darkly, "He's already broken most of our spirits. I remember when I first came to Yorugakure—this was before the people there even considered becoming a village—every mother father and child there looked like they wanted to die."

"He defiantly needs to be stopped." The Lord Hokage said firmly.

"Don't worry, we'll take him out soon enough but right now things are tedious enough with the exam to throw an assassination into the mix. Or at least another one." Yoake smiled thinly, "Alright...can you think of anything else?"

"Itachi." The Lord Hokage said, "The whole reason you called for this meeting."

Yoake smacked her forehead with her palm, "Oh God. I forgot about that. Right then. Quick recap. Just like Orochimaru dropped In on Sasuke, our good friend the Uchiha decided to observe Sato and to test her powers. My guess is that the leader of the Akatsuki was also curious to see how far she's come, and while Itachi may not have given her a cursed seal of heaven, he certainly scared the crap out of her."

"This must be getting out of our hands if Itachi has come out to play." The Lord Hokage said in a low voice, "What could have brought him out of hiding?"

"Either his own unquenchable curiosity of the last living member from the clan he thought he killed, or something above him wants to know how Sato is doing," Yoake scratched her head, "And like I said, I have a feeling that it's none other than the Akatsuki leader."

"What would he want with your Tasogare?"

Yoake snorted, "Sorry, Hokage but isn't it obvious? Our Sato might be the only one who can stop the Akatsuki's plan to take over the entire world. The leader will want Sato either dead or on their side, and I'm guessing he doesn't want to destroy something that could be his tool to bringing the entire world to its knees."

The Hokage frowned, "But it you know all this, then can't—"

Yoake held up one finger to the fireshadow, indicating that he should be silent. In one smooth motion, the woman pulled a kunai from the billows of her robe, and flung it at the door.

The blade sunk home with a _ssssssthunk, _and Yoake was sure that she heard a gasp of surprise from the other side of the wood.

"DAMMIT, SATO!" Yoake roared. In one step she had crossed the room, and wrenched open the door, revealing a very startled looking fifteen-year old protégée.


	21. Through the Academy

Sato gave a yelp of surprise and fell back onto her hind end as the door flew open. Yoake was upon the girl before she could even manage to scramble away, seizing a handful of her hair and yanking hard.

"_What are you doing here?" _Yoake demanded with all the tender kindness of a pissed off mother tiger, "_You're supposed to be training!"_

"Yeah, we knew that was going to fail before it even started, Yoake." A voice called. Yoake looked up, and found Makuro and Shinri standing at attention far down the hall. Shinri had unsurprisingly been the one to say that choice comment, and Sato sent him daggers in between winces of pain.

"So you decided to drop in on a meeting between the Hokage and myself?" Yoake growled. Sato managed to write out of her sensai's grip, and backed against the wall looking perturbed.

The boys shuffled forwards, looking a little sheepish.

"The training grounds here are much better than the ones back home." Makuro pointed out fairly, "And none of us were going to get much done sitting in Yoru. Here at least we can stay on our toes and get a breathe of fresh air while we're at it."

Yoake calmed down slightly, and she cast a glance over her shoulder into the room that she had just exploded from. Sato peered past her Yorukage, and saw a wizened old man standing near a large wooden desk.

"Umm…" Yoake rolled her eyes, and gestured to the girl behind her, "Lord Hokage I would like to introduce you to the last of the Tasogare, Satora."

Sato dipped he head respectfully as the Hokage came out of his office to inspect her. He stood right in front of her, gaze solemn. Sato now felt slightly uncomfortable under this man's stare. She dropped her eyes to the ground, finding that she couldn't stand to look directly into the serene pools of blue…

"Well, now that the three of you are here, you'll have to stay the night somewhere." The lord Hokage said, mercifully lifting his gaze from the young Tasogare, and transferring it to the other two, "The arrangements have already been made in anticipation for your arrival tomorrow, so I suppose that staying at the inn a day early wouldn't be all that terrible. Blue Moon in, your escorts will take you there at the end of the day."

"Who will be escorting us, sir?" Makuro asked.

"Team Seven."

"WHAT?" Makuro, Yoake, and Shinri all exclaimed. Yoake shot the Hokage a look of death, "Sarutobi, what were you thinking?"

Sato remained motionless. She remembered team seven from the second part of the exam, Rash Naruto, friendly Sakura, and of course Sasuke.

However Sato found that her anger with Sasuke had quite evaporated. She no longer reserved the same hatred for him that she had before she had entered the forest of death, and Sato knew why.

It was because of Itachi.

"I'm ok with cell seven." Sato said quietly.

Everyone stared wonderingly at the young girl.

"I know why you all have a problem with it." Sato continued, feeling that she should explain, "But I don't want to kill Sasuke anymore. I nothing him, he hasn't done anything to me. Its Itachi that hurt me, and right now its Itachi that I want to bring down."

Yoake felt a chill run up and down her spine at the soft conviction in her young charges voice. Sato was normally this sincere in her oaths. The look in her steely eyes told everyone present what they needed to know-Itachi would some day regret scarring the last of the Tasogare.

Yoake turned to her fellow kage, "You knew this, didn't you?"

The Lord Hokage bobbed his head, "When you told me of what Itachi did to her, I knew that she wouldn't bother hating Sasuke for no reason when she could hate Itachi for every reason."

"Yeah, I'm right here." Sato said rather flatly, "You don't have to talk about me like I'm a stump."

Shinri and Makuro gave sharp intakes of breath—Sato wasn't showing the fire shadow the respect he deserved. Had Kuro been closer, he would have treaded lightly on her toes to get her to come down to earth from her high horse.

Yoake got to the girl first again, poking her hard on the shoulder.

"Hey, listen squirt. You'd better show some respect for the Lord Hokage. You're familiar with me since I'm your sensai but here in Konoha you might have to actually tip your hat to a few people."

"_Diss." _Shinri whispered in a hardly audible tone. Makuro was the only one who caught it.

For one second Makuro wasn't sure how Sato would react to this. She blinked, and then lowered her head, "Forgive me, Lord Hokage."

"Right then." Yoake looked relieved that nothing worse had come out of that, "Hokage, where are these kid's escorts going to be waiting?"

"Outside, I believe." The Lord Hokage said, pulling a pipe from the folds of his robes. He lit it with a wave of his hand and shoved it between his teeth, "Have a pleasant stay in Konohagakure, Night cell. You may use whatever training grounds and facilities that you may stumble across."

"Thank you for your hospitality, sir," Yoake said, cocking her head, indicating that the three teens should start heading down the hall, "I'll be in touch."

Yoake herded the three kids down the hall.

"I guess I hoped that in the light of what's to come you and Shinri would have put your damn differences aside and worked things out like I wanted you to," Yoake whispered harshly in Sato's ear as they went, "Didn't you hear anything I said about fire and water-nin? Don't you get how important this is?"

"Sure I do, but not when the snake here is teaching me." Sato raised her voice, glaring into the back of her fellow cell member's head. Shinri kept plodding on at a steady pace, making no obvious sign that he had heard his fellow cell members comment.

Makuro kept his thoughts to himself again as always. The four of them walked in silence down two floors and across a hallway until they found themselves in the ninja academy once more. There was no noise in the entire building, but the inside of Makuro's head was buzzing with different thoughts.

_'Shinri and Sato will be the undoing of us all yet!' _He thought with a trace of bitterness, _'when will they both realize that we're all in the same boat together? I thought that they were getting somewhere during the second part of the exam, but I think that I might have been imagining things…"_

"You went to school here, didn't you Yoake?" Sato asked quietly as they passed one of the many lecture halls. Makuro was jolted out of his reprieve.

"Yeah…yeah I did." Their sensai wore a thoughtful look on her face as they continued on their way, "A few years ago…my parents of course didn't want me to have to face that gruesome genin test of my home village, so for some reason I managed to go here."

"Lucky you did, Yoake." Kuro said, "Else you certainly wouldn't be here today."

"Are we all done reminiscing?" Shinri stated sourly, "Or are we going to get out of here?"  
"What's your hurry?" Sato asked. They rounded a corner, and saw the main entrance doors they had come in through, "It's not like we're going anywhere special or anything. You need to take a chill pill, mate!"

"Call it what you like," Shinri jammed his hands in his pockets again, "I just still don't trust this city at all."

"Konohagakure, Hidden leaf village." Yoake grinned, pushing open the doors, "I wonder what else is hidden in this place? Hey looks like team seven is already here and waiting for you…."


	22. Konohamaru!

_Konohagakure_

_One hour earlier_

"Naruto! Wake up!"

Naruto woke up in a puddle of funk. Giving a strangled cry, he rolled off his moth-eaten couch and slammed into the floor hard. He scrambled to his feet still half asleep and found Sakuro and Sasuke standing in his living room, staring at him like he had two heads

"What the hell are you two doing in my house?" Naruto demanded. He would have sounded much more threatening if he hadn't yawned immediately after saying this.

"Get dressed, Naruto we've got to go!" Sasuke said sharply, "We've been calling you for at least an hour."

"What's going on?" Naruto rubbed sleep out of his eyes.

"That escort job Kakashi mentioned a few days ago?" Sakura started playing with her hair, her gaze flitting from Naruto to Sasuke, "Well apparently the night cell got in a day earlier than what we thought and they're headed to meet with the Hokage. We've got to meet them at the Acadamy."

"What are they doing with the Hokage?" Naruto asked curiously.

"We don't know, that's not part of the mission." Sasuke said shortly, although he was wondering the same thing as well, "Get ready. Sakura and I will be waiting outside in five minutes."

Naruto scowled, "If you get outta my house then I can get ready."

"You call _this _a house?" Sakura said distastefully, wrinkling her nose, "Smells like spoiled milk—do you _ever _clean this place up?"

"_Out! Both of you!" _Naruto hollered, resisting the urge to start kicking shins.

"We were just leaving." Sasuke curled his lip, "Four minutes or we're heading out without you."

8

Needless to say, Naruto was not a happy camper as he and his fellow cell members headed downtown Konoha. The city was as bright and as bustling as ever, but right at that moment the only noise and commotion Naruto cared about was in his empty stomach.

"You didn't even give me time for breakfast!" He grumbled as they passed a ramen stall, "Don't you think we could stop for two seconds and…"

"Easy boy." Sakura grabbed Naruto by the back of his neck and threw him to the ground, "We've got a mission to do and I know its hard but you might have to keep your mind off of food for at least _two seconds."_

"Man she got you good, boss!" A young voice sniggered.

The three turned on their heels, and were not surprised to see Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi tailing them. The kids were looked wide-eyed and happy.

"Yeah, well, you've gotta let them have a hit every now and then to, ya know, make them feel better about themselves." Naruto said quickly, trying to save whatever shred was left of his dignity. As he tried to get up on shaky legs, Sakuro kicked him in the center of the back and he went down again.

"Don't piss me off!" She warned, shaking her fist at Konohamaru and Udon, who backed away slowly.

"Can we please get going?" Sasuke asked, rolling his eyes. The last thing he wanted was for the squirts to be following them all around the city while he was trying to keep an eye on the night cell.

Naruto got to his feet and scrambled out of reach of Sakura.

"Hey boss, what are you doing today?" Konohamaru flew like a cannonball out of nowhere, onto Naruto's back. Naruto staggered back and forth for a few seconds, but managed to balance himself with Konohamaru on his back.

"We're going on a super secret mission!" Naruto laughed, "We're escorting the dangerous night cell around the city."

"I heard my grandfather talking about them!" Konohamaru twisted around and looked for his two other companions, "Moegi, tell Naruto what I told you about those kids from Yorugakure!"

"He said that the Hokage said that the Yorukage said that the night cell was very dangerous and that we should watch out for them!" Moegi declared, smiling at Sakura, "You won't let them kill you, will you Sakura?"

"C-course not!" Sakura smiled and scratched the back of her head, her mind wandering back to the moment when she had first met Sato Tasogare. It hadn't been the best first impression, but the Tasogare didn't seem as foreboding as everyone had said. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Seriously, we have to keep moving." Sasuke urged them, giving Udon a look that plainly said, 'come over here looking for a piggy-back ride and I'll kick you so hard you'll wind up in kirigakure', "Let's _move _you guys!"

"Sasuke's right!" Sakura agreed swiftly, turning a little pink, "Udon, Konohamaru, Moegi, I'm sorry but you can't come with us—"

"Oh, come on why can't we?" Konohamary whined from his position on Naruto's back, looking as though everyone in the village would kill to have his place.

"Yeah, Sakura, why cant they?" Naruto chimed in.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and answered for his cellmate, "Because we don't want a dead kid on our hands if the night cell goes nuts. Whatever, you guys can mess around with the little kids if you want but I'm getting out of here."

With that Sasuke turned again and started heading down the street. They were awfully close to the academy, its tall towers were visible from where they were.

"Sasuke, wait!" Sakura called brightly, running after the Uchiha. Moegi followed Sakura, Udon followed Moegi, and Konohamaru and Naruto followed Udon.

"Hey guys!" Naruto panted. "Wait up! I cant run as fast as you with this lump on my back…"


	23. Confrontation

Konohagakure 

_About 11:30_

Sato stopped short as soon as she stepped outside of the Ninja Academy, jaw dropped. As a result, Shinri, Makuro, and Yoake all crashed unceremoniously into her back. Yoake collided painfully into the doorpost…

Shinri cursed, and shoved his fellow cellmate out of the way, "Dammit Sato, what are you—oh. Wow."

Sato couldn't help laughing, ignoring the fact that Shinri has pushed her. The scene in front of them was too hilarious.

Three boys (One older and two younger) were lying on the ground with various scuff-marks, emitting sounds of pain. There was a pink haired kunoichi sitting on the ground next to them, looking murderous and guilty at the same time. A smaller girl was hiding behind the girl with the pink hair, looking awed.

And then there was of course the dark-haired Uchiha sulking on the other side of the yard doing his best to look cool and ignore everything that was going on with his fellow genin.

Yoake rolled her eyes, "_For gosh sakes—"_

She stepped out into the yard, hands on her hips and giving the genin her best evil eye.

"On you feet, Konoha. Look smart."

At once the three genin got to their feet and were at attention, the boy in the orange jumpsuit a little slower than the other two. Shinri, Makuro, and Shinri fell in behind their Sensai and waited for her to say whatever she was going to say.

"Good morning, cell seven." Yoake nodded to the kids.

"Morning Yorukage." They replied, dipping their heads.

"See that, Sato?" Shinri hissed in Sato's ear, "_They _show the Kage respect. Something new for you, isn't it?"

Sato held back a terrible urge to elbow the snake-nin in the ribs, and instead settled for clearing her throat pointedly and shuffling her feet.

"Well, here they are." Yoake gestured behind her to the night cell, "I trust that you will both get along and if not, then grind your teeth and bear it."

"_Wow she's hot!" _Udon whispered loudly to Konohamaru, pointing at Yoake.

Yoake sighed, but otherwise made no sign that she had heard the comment, "Alright, my cell. Be at the Blue moon in at seven, I trust also that the Leaf cell will show you where that fine building is so you can know where to go."

As one, The night cell nodded.

Already the two teams of genin were making eyes at each other, sizing each other up, calculating how hard it would be to take each other down…Yoake saw this and intervened.

"OK, new plan. Haruno Sakura, you will be escorting Serioyuki Makuro, Uchiha Sasuke you will be escorting…Hebigiru Shinri, and Uzamaki Naruto you willl be escorting Tasogare Satora." Yoake dusted her hands, and looked satisfied, "And rest assured, all six of you. Should a fight break out you will answer to both me and the Hokage."

"Tell me, Yorukage." Shinri asked icily, staring down Sasuke with venom, "Why couldn't there have been another Leaf cell to do this job?"

Yoake did not answer. She clapped her hands, beamed, and was gone in a puff of smoke.

"You've got the sexy one, boss!" Konohamaru said loudly to Naruto.

Sato exchanged glances with her cellmates. For one of the few times in all the time they had known each other, they were united in the same thought. _This was going to be one long afternoon._


	24. ROCK LEE VERSUS SATO!

Sato already had a great dislike of Naruto after the way he introduced himself the last time they had been face to face. Now they were looking at each other rather warily, and Sato thought that she should make something very clear before the kid could say anything.

"Let's get this straight, dude. If you go off on one of your random tangents about how you will be Hokage someday, I will smack you and it will kill you." Sato beamed, "Okay?"

Naruto nodded and did not reply. He seemed to be at a loss for words and Sato got the impression that this didn't happen very often.

"So _now _he shuts up." Sakura groaned, turning to Makuro, "Do you mind if we have your Sato in our cell permanently?"

"Be my guest." Shinri said hollowly in passing. Sasuke had already started to walk away, and while the snake-nin would much prefer to wander Konoha on his own he thought it best to at least put on the appearance of caring about his escort.

Makuro smiled slightly, and patted Sakura on the shoulder, "Sato is the sticky gooey stuff that keeps us all together. With her gone we'd all fall apart, so if you don't mind we'll keep her."

So just like that Sato was left alone with a hyperactive kid in an orange jumpsuit, and the three little kids that seemed to be like shadows that never shut up.

"Are your boobs real?" Udon asked curiously.

"Let's go get something to eat, boss, I'm starved!" Konohamaru said eagerly from somewhere around Naruto's ankles.

Naruto was still staring at Sato with his mouth slightly open. Sato glanced around her quickly to make sure no one else was watching, and then calmly, smacked the boy on the side of the head.

Naruto shook his head as though to clear it, "Um…thanks. I'm hungry, want to get some ramen?"

Sato smiled widely. Maybe this kid wasn't so bad!

"This is the best ramen shop in all of Konoha!" Naruto said brightly. He had dragged Sato away from the Academy with a mad glint in his eye, and now that he was fast approaching the restaurant he was positively frothing at the mouth.

Sato laughed. She had warmed up to the kid in the five minutes that he had been dragging her around the village. The three little kids weren't following them anymore, thankfully. They had been called in for lunch by their parents, and Sato was very glad of this. She liked kids, sure, but there was something about that trio that just made her want to take a hold of one of them and kick them to the outskirts of the land of fire…

Naruto clambered up onto one of the stools in front of the building. Sato did the same with a little less gusto, and grinned.

"Good ramen, huh? I hear Konoha has the best bowl of noodles in the entire land of fire."

"That's right, miss!" The elderly shop owner came out from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel and smiling, "We serve the best—"

He caught a glance of her headband, and then her curse scars.

"The b-best…the best…"

The man turned and ran back into the kitchen.

"Hey _ZEK!_" Naruto hollered, waving his fist in the air, "Aren't you going to take our order? Zek? ZEK!"

Sato sighed, and scratched the back of her neck. Normally she didn't care if people were scared of her, but today she just wanted to be normal…she just wanted to be Sato, not Satora Tasogare.

"Sorry, man." She apologized, "I guess my reputation proceeds me."

"O crap." Naruto said, looking over Sato's head and down the street, "Here comes trouble…man! I wanted to stay out of their way…"

Sato looked where Naruto was indicating, curious. There was a cell of three coming down the street, with leaves on their headbands. The tallest of the three pointed at the ramen shop, gave a great cry, and started skipping towards them.

"I have a feeling he wants something other than ramen…" Sato scowled.

Rock Lee ground to a halt in front of the young Tasogare, and was positively beaming. Somehow he got a hold of Sato's hand, and was pumping it up and down with an insane amount of energy.

"Satora Tasogare-san! You remember me? It's a real honor to see you again, really it is."

_Did he just call me Satora Tasogare-san? What a loser. _

"Lay off her, Lee." Naruto complained, turning slightly red, "She doesn't want all that."

Sato managed to whip her hand out of Lee's right grasp. Her entire arm felt like rubber, and she winced. The other two members in Lee's cell came over, but were standing a safe distance back looking suspicious.

"Lee, get out of there!" Tenten said furiously, glaring at Sato as though she had just tried to kill her cellmate, "You don't know what she could do to you…"

"Satora Tasogare, I would be honored if you would engage me in a brief sparring match!" Rock Lee never seemed to blink, or to stop smiling. Sato felt herself leaning away from this genin as he continued, "I have heard tales and songs of your powers, but unfortunately I could not see them put to the test last week during the second part of the exam."

"Songs?" Sato turned to Naruto, bemused, "There are _songs _about me? Do people in Konoha just have no _lives?_"

"So do you accept my challenge?" Rock Lee asked again, clasping his hands together as though he were praying.

"OK, man…" Sato slid off her stool, and took a few steps back, "There is this little rule I like to follow called personal space…"

"Lee, come on!" Tenten cried, "We have to train…"

"And what better training is there than to go against the very best of the best before the exam?" With a jolt Sato realized that the things about this kids eyes were not caterpillars, they were eyebrows, "Please, Satora Tasogare, I beg you! Accept my challenge!"

Sato turned this time to Lee's fellow cell members. Ignoring Tenten, she drilled Neji with a level stare, "Is this some kind of joke, or is he for real?"

"He's stronger than what you might think, Tasogare." Neji said, folding his arms across his chest, "I wouldn't mind taking a crack at you either to see if you're all legend and no truth, but I'll settle for watching Lee."

"Where would we do this?" Sato asked carefully. She didn't know if Yoake would consider a brief sparring match getting into a fight.

"There is an arena a few blocks away." Neji said, grinning widely this time, "Yes Tasogare. Please accept Lees challenge, I'd like to see this fight a lot!"

Sato glanced at Naruto, and he shrugged.

"I'd like to see bushy-brows get thrashed, so it's up to you." He said.

Sato thought hard. There was something about Neji's derisive smirk that reminded her of Shinri, and for that reason she wanted to crush this Lee kid just to wipe it off his face. The only thing that had her slightly worried is that she knew nothing about Lee's fighting style. A few weeks ago that wouldn't have bothered her, but now when she was totally behind enemy lines in Konoha…she rather wanted to know what she was up against.

"Yeah, I'll have a go." Sato said slowly.

Rock Lee actually gave a shout of joy, and did eight backhand springs around the block before coming back.

"Then let us go!" He shouted, practically skipping down the street.

"How does this kid fight?" Sato asked Naruto out of the corner of her mouth. She wasn't sure why she was whispering...the other leaf cell was about 100 feet ahead of them.

"I really don't know." Naruto replied. He had reluctantly left the ramen shop and now he kept glancing morosely back ever two or three seconds, "Sasuke got into a spot with him, and got soundly beaten." Here the boy gave a little snigger, "It was the funniest thing I've ever seen."

"Huh. That was informative."

"He's more of a taijutsu nut, I think, " Naruto shrugged, "I don't really know, all that I know is that he owned Sasuke and that's reason enough for me to love him."

"I'm starting to get the impression that you don't like Sasuke all that much" Sato deadpanned.

"Course I don't like him!" Naruto exploded, "It's always, 'Sasuke this' and 'Sasuke that'! he's everybody's precious little Uchiha and I'm sick of it."

"Oh…you must hate that." Sato said, feeling suddenly cold.

"COURSE I hate it, everyone always talks about him and makes a big fuss about him, and I get left behind in the dust like always."

There was a pause after this outburst as Naruto and Sato crossed the street and found themselves in front of the Ninjaken Training Arena. Tenten, Neji, and Lee were waiting for them there.

"Wow!" Sato craned her head back and took the large building in, "I wish we had one of these in Yoru! This is really really nice!"

"This is actually one of Konoha's more run down arenas." Tenten said scathingly, "There are much bigger ones further east. I wonder what your village must look like if this is impresses you…"

Sato opened her mouth to launch a biting retort back at the kunoichi, but she let it go. Tenten was only saying these things because she was very scared of the Tasogare in Sato, and Sato was just fine with that.

'So…in?" Sato said rather lamely.

"In." Lee said, practically bouncing on the balls of his toes.

With the risk of looking like a total dork hanging over her head, Sato tried not to gawk so much as she and the other teens entered the battle arena. It was easily the largest building that Sato had ever been to in her entire life. The place even had a hospital wing in case a match went wrong. Sato felt herself grinning widely. This place was her kind of hangout. The only thing was that there was no one else there in the building besides them. The lights weren't even on.

The five teens entered the main battle arena through a set of huge double doors, their footsteps echoing loudly in the huge room. It was also unsettlingly dark.

"Are we allowed to be in here?" Sato asked curiously, "I mean…it looks pretty abandoned."

As one the five Konoha genin gave little snorts of laughter.

"You can tell you're from another village!" Neji sneered, "All the arena's are empty of the normal patrons so genin training for the exams can come in whenever they want and train."

"Its pretty easy to spot the fact that I'm not from Konoha because it's pretty much advertised on my forehead." Sato said waspishly, pointing to her headband heatedly. In her mood, her curse scars flushed a dark blue, and everyone except neji and Rock Lee stepped back.

"Well let's do this then." Sato said shortly.

Rock Lee saluted, and started running laps around the arena at an insane speed.

"Umm…what is he doing?" Sato asked cautiously, watching the tall green-clad ninja speed around the perimeter of the arena.

"Warming up." Neji said coolly as Lee abstained from running and started doing jumping jacks, "He's really set on fighting you, so don't disappoint him."

"Oh he won't be disappointed." Sato snarled, stepping closer to the Hyuga boy until they were nose-to-nose, "Listen, bubo. Already I can assume you're your head is so full of hot air it's the reason you're walking around with your nose in the air. Let's get this one thing straight—I'm not as weak as you think I am."

Neji was not intimidated in the least. He poked Sato on the forehead, right where her villages symbol was, "Save it until after the match, Tasogare."

"Jeez you'd think I was fighting him, and not Captain bodysuit over here!" Sato said loudly, spinning away from Neji all at once, "Hey someone turn the lights on in—"

KK—FAAM! Naruto was way ahead of her. He threw the switch and the entire arena was filled with a brilliant light.

"Show her how it's done, Lee!' Tenten called, "The Konoha way!"

"Someone _please _shut her up." Sato muttered softly.

Naruto stayed where he was by the light switch, watching Sato stroll calmly to the middle of the arena (where Lee was waiting excitedly for her, practically bouncing on the balls of his heels) He wasn't sure who he wanted to win this match, Sato seemed a lot nicer than Team Eleven, but Rock Lee was a good kid and had beaten Sasuke…

He had been uncharacteristically quiet almost as soon as he had set foot into the arena, and he wasn't sure why. There was something about Sato that left him tongue tied..

Sato tried sizing Rock Lee up again, but found it impossible. He was such a bizarre looking young man that the Tasogare found she couldn't even stand to stare him in the eyes for more than a few seconds. He looked fit enough to take her on, but she couldn't see anything else about him.

All the same, he must feel pretty good about his potential ability to actually challenge her…though that mightn't have anything to do with it.

Sato laced her fingers together, and cracked her knuckles, "Alright, Lee you want to call this thing?"

Lee beamed, "I would most certainly like to, Sato-san!"

Satora stopped herself from rolling her eyes with much difficulty, "Right then."

Lee saluted, "Before we begin, I would like to say that I am most honored that you would take the time to fight me, as I am not worthy to even—"

"_GET ON WITH IT LEE!" _Everyone present shouted.

"BEGIN!" Lee whooped, and launched himself at Sato.

Predictably, time slowed down for the young Tasogare, and she was able to sidestep Lee's kick easily. She expected this, but what she did not expect was for the ground to give way where his foot did connect with the ground.

Rock Lee was not daunted by the fact that his kick missed. He bounced back from his attack and smiled.

"I see you have dodged my kick"

"Brilliant observation, Captain Obvious." Sato said, cocking her head.

Rock Lee puffed up his chest and came at her again. Sato easily dodged every kick, spin and punch he threw at her. His technique was different than most of the taijutsus she had seen.

For a good five minutes they must have danced around, Lee always missing and Sato always dodging until it Sato realized that she was out of breath and Lee was not.

_He's just testing me…making me jump through the hoops before he actually starts to fight…_

Sato dodged a kick that would have taken her head off. She called a small portion of her Tasogare powers to her, and swiped at Lee's midriff with a tendril of dark shadows.

Lee did an impossible barrel roll spin that left him parallel with the ground for a few seconds. A food lashed out of that spinning mass of green, and Sato just managed to lunge backwards. She actually felt the wind from the blow.

Lee leveled out, feet barely brushing the ground as he came at her again.

Sato cursed. Her powers were designed to kill, and she certainly didn't want to kill right now. She couldn't maim him, either—not two days before the exams. She blocked one of his kicks with an outstretched hand.

_POW!_

"JEEZ!" Sato yelped. She had effectively blocked Lee's kick but the force of the blow cracked her wrist.

_There's no way she was strong enough to block Lee's kick with just her hand! _Tenten thought, _But yet…she did. That sort of blow would break anyone else's bone and it just made her wrist bend a little?_

Sato did not realize that she had blocked Lee's signature move, the Hurricane of Konoha. All she saw was the surprised look on her opponents face, and she took advantage of his uncertainty.

Faster than any eye could follow, Sato released Lee's leg and caught it with her other, non-throbbing wrist. With the boy's leg in her right hand, Sato vaulted off the ground with some Tasogare propulsion, dragging him with her.

Once she was a couple dozen feet in the air she slowed time down enough so that Lee wouldn't be able to block her attack, twisted him around in the air, and roundhouse kicked him in the chest.

Lee hit the ground hard, and Sato landed gracefully like a cat.

For one terrible moment Rock Lee didn't move from his position there on the ground, and Sato thought that she might have killed him without intending too. She took a few steps towards him, but he jumped up beaming.

"That was excellent, Satora-san!" Lee exclaimed, blood dripping out of a small cut on his face where he had collided with the ground, "Well done! You've beaten me fair and square!"

"But she wasn't even trying!" Tenten's whine made Sato's temples throb, "All she did was sidestep every one of Lee's attacks and then sucker punch him in the end!"

"Actually it was a kick." Sato said coolly, turning to the flying weapons mistress, "And if you've got a problem with it then come and try me."

Sato held out her still throbbing left arm, and let her curse scars flare a brilliant red. She could feel her hair standing on end from the pure chakra emanating out of her curse scars.

"I'll look forward to seeing you all in two days." Sato said calmly, strolling towards the doors. As she passed Naruto, she grabbed his arm and hauled him along, "Nice meeting you, Lee."


	25. Mascara

Sakura wasn't sure what to say to Makuro, wasn't sure where she should take him, and she certainly didn't know what to make of him. He was polite enough and seemed quite content to let her take the lead, but Sakura found it flustering to not be able to talk to a face.

It was one of the things that annoyed her about master Kakashi—it would be so much easier for her to learn under him if he would show them his face once in a while at least. Or even both eyes—Forget the Sharingan! Now Sakura felt uncomfortable ushering this tall Yorugakurene mummy around her home.

"I am making you uncomfortable." Makuro stated. It wasn't a question. He stopped walked and looked her right in the eye, "Are you afraid of me?"

"Well yes—I mean no." Sakuro swallowed, and could feel her cheeks flushing, "It's just…well…I find it easier to talk to people when I can see their face…"

Makuro peered down at her, and she stared back. She could make out his nose and where his eyes should be under the linens, but other than that there were no distinguishable features. His body was hidden in that strange trench coat. This genin was certainly a real man of mystery. Sakura could feel herself blushing even more.

"I—umm…why don't we get something to eat?"

"I don't need to eat Makuro said simply, pointing to his face, "But if you are hungry…"

"O—right." Sakura was steadily becoming more and more undone, "Forget it then, I just wanted to…Um…well then why don't we...uhh…"

Makuro cocked his head.

"You know what?" Sakura scowled, and seemed t become a different person. She plunged her hand into her purse as though drawing a kunai, and pulled out some mascara, "_COME HERE!"_

She reached up and grabbed Makuro's head. He laughed and let her drag him down into a bizarre sort of headlock. She held him still and quickly unscrewed her mascara, and gently drew eyes, a nose, and a mouth on his linens.

When Sakura released him, she beamed, "That's _Much _better."

Makuro's hand strayed up to feel where she had drawn at him, but the pink-haired kunoichi slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch it!" She grinned and returned her mascara to her purse, "That's so much better,"

"Glad I can make you happy." Makuro gave a little bow. He was in a fine mood in a beautiful city with a beautiful girl, "Where to? Now that I have a new face."

"_Sakura Haruno!" _An all to familiar voice came in from the north. Makuro and Sakura both looked up, and saw none other than Ino Yamanaka stalking down the street looking amused.

"The genin from Yoru have been here a grand total of a half hour, and already you're hitting on one?" Ino shook her head and tossed her hair prettily, "That's low, billboard brow. Really low." Ino cut in front of Sakura, and stuck out a hand, "Hey there, stud. I'm Ino Yaman…Y-Yaman…"

Into caught sight of Sakura's on the spot face job, and stopped. Obviously she thought that it was real instead of a hasty mascara job because she looked morified.

Makuro leaned in until his face was mere inches away from Ino's. He unraveled some of the linens from his skull, and waved them around in the air like medusa snakes, and said sweetly, "It's nice to meet you."

Ino gave a small shriek, and stepped back.

Sakura and Makuro laughed. Suddenly Shikamaru was among them.

"Ino I told you to stick close," The boy complained, jamming his hands in his pockets and scowling.

"Where are you guys coming from?" Sakura demanded, whirling, "Ino just came out of nowhere, and now you pop out of the ground like a daisy?"

Shikamaru ignored Sakura, and instead took in Makuro.

"It's nice to meet you, you must be Serioyuki Makuro." Shikamaru inclined his head, and extended his hand, "I'm Shikamaru Naru. That annoying chick who just screaming in your face is Ino, but you must know that already."

"_HEY!" _Ino aimed a smack at Shikamaru's head, but he was to quick for her, sidestepping her easily and laughing.

"Yes." Makuro nodded, "It's nice to meet you both, Ino and Shikamaru. Team Asuma, correct?"

"That's right. You know your stuff." Shikamaru said with a rather approving tone in his voice, "Ino wants to go shopping this afternoon, and refused to go alone, and I got pulled into it. What a drag."

"A _Drag? _How is shopping a _drag?_"

This time Ino aimed a kick at Shikamaru's shins, but once more she was too slow.

"Just ditch her." Sakura said darkly, under her breath, "I would."

Ino's glare could have boiled water, "Hey I heard that!"

"If she ditched me I'd have Makuro here to thank." Shikamaru grinned,

"Shouldn't you be training for the exam?" Makuro asked the lanky genin politely. Ino was deterred from her mission of destroying her fellow cell member, and answered the tall Yoru genin.

"Yeah, we are training. I'm getting some new clothes for the third part of the exam." She seemed to have gotten over her initial fear of Makuro, and was now looking closely at the mascara on his face, "Is that….face…real?"

"Very real." Makuro said solemnly, "My people char the bones of their enemies, grind them into powder, and then add water to make this facepaint."

Ino glanced at Sakura, "Is he serious?"

Sakura nodded, "oh yeah. Watch out for the Hebigiru tribe, Ino."

With Ino looking worried, Makuro posed his initial inquiry to Shikamaru, and waited for a response.

"This exam isn't worth my time anyways," Shikamaru said, shaking his head, "I wouldn't have even entered but the rest of my cell wanted a crack at it."

"_You bet we did!" _Ino whooped, punching the air and looking suddenly murderous, "_Yeee-Haw!"_

Makuro did his best to ignore Ino. What Shikamaru has said caught his attention.

"Why wouldn't you want to be a chunin?" Makuro was bemused. He kept trying to read Shikamaru's aura, but couldn't get anything on him. His entire manner seemed to be a dull sort of gray, there was nothing overly happy or sad or even interested about him. He wasn't even aloof or vague…he just honestly didn't seem to care.

"Like I said, it's not worth my time." Shikamaru had a note of finality in his tone, and his gaze suddenly became a little darker, and quite chilling.

Makuro let it drop. Ino was still watching him as though he were a rather thrilling television program. He couldn't get a reading on her, either. Her moods were constantly swinging and changing so much that she was practically a whirlwind of aura's and energies that not even he could decipher. He could say the same for Sakura, although he found her much less aggravating than Ino…

"Well if you two will excuse us, Sakura has some escorting to do." Makuro pulled on the pink-haired kunoichi's elbow, nodding at Shikamaru and ignoring Ino, "I will see you both in two days, and good luck when that time comes."

"Same to you." Shikamaru replied, inclining his head once more.

"You two are dating, aren't you!" Ino shouted triumphantly.

Sakura looked ready to do some serious gut stabbing but Makuro put a calming had on her shoulder.

"Why yes, we are! And where is your dashing beau? A girl like you would certainly have one, am I right?"

That shut Ino up. The Yamanaka kunoichi looked hopefully over at Shikamaru, but he gave her a murderous stare that said, "Don't even think about it…"

"Well..uhh…I've got a lot of shopping to do!" Ino said brightly, grabbing Shikamaru and hauling hard on his arm, "Nice seeing you again Sakura…good luck in a few days…"

And as quickly as they had come, they were gone.

Makuro put his head in his hands, "Her shrill annoying obnoxious voice was really started to give me a headache. You're lucky Shinri wasn't here else he seriously might have killed her just for some peace and quiet."

_**(AUTHORS NOTE!!!!!!!!I REALLY DON'T LIKE INO!!!**_

Sakura snorted, "And we're lucky he didn't do that? I've had to deal with her growing up…we used to be good friends."

"And what happened?" The pair of them started heading east.

"Well…It was actually over a guy."

Makuro groaned, and Sakura gave a faint grin, "Yeah I know what you're thinking. Now that I look back on it, it all seems a little silly. After the second part of the exam I think I grew up a bit." Here Sakura's hand drifted up to her short hair, "And I think Ino did too…but we'll never be the good friends that we used to be."

"I never understood girls, ever." Makuro said mildly. He stopped to inspect the wares of a small shop selling beaded necklaces, "How can they be such good friends one minute, and then claw each others eyes out the next? They are one mystery that I have never been able to unravel."

Sakura laughed, "So what is it like being in a cell with Satora Tasogare?"

"Well.." Makuro paused in the act of returning the necklace to its origonal position, "She's a little like you, though I suppose most girls are the same."

The pink haired kunoichi gave a snort, "I'm guessing you haven't been in contact with many girls before."

"Actually you're right." Makuro set the necklace down, and moved on—Sakura tagging along at his heels rather than leading, "I don't think you understand how small my village really is. There is only one genin cell, and the one girl in that cell is still a mystery to me as well."

"What about your sensai?"

"Yoake?" This time It was Makuro's turn to snort, "She can be like a little girl at some times, but mostly she's about as anti feminine as you can go."

"What about me?" Sakura stepped in front of the tall Yoru genin, and put her hands on her hips. She had the grace to blush, "What do you think of me?"

Makuro cocked his head. He could tell that this girl was already very taken with him, but that didn't bother him. It was interesting to watch all her conflicting moods, she was still a little scared of him, angry at herself for liking him after only being with him for about a half hour, a little frightened that he would reject her…but she was also happy that he was talking to her, and worried that someone else was going to take him away…

"I think that you're still trying to find who you want to be," Makuro said quietly, trying to get a decent reading, "On the outside you're generally pretty agreeable and mild mannered but on the inside there's a pretty nasty piece of work wanting to get out…but as long as you can pretend to be a pink haired princess you'll be fine. I also think that you're still reeling from something pretty emotional…maybe that thing you mentioned in the forest? I don't know."

Sakura blinked. She had been aiming for maybe a curt nod and a, "You look fine today Sakura, is that a new lip gloss?" not a full personality profile.

"You can tell all that just by looking at me?" Sakura asked rather grudgingly, and Makuro knew that he had scored.

"Yep." Makuro said.

"What else can you see?" Sakura stepped a little closer to the night genin.

"Well, you want me to kiss you right now very badly, and I would but I don't think you want mascara all over your mouth. Oh yeah, and I don't have a mouth to begin with, so good luck." Makuro beamed, and grabbed her hand, "Come on, I want to see the rest of your city!"


	26. An Unexpected Turn of Events

Satora wasn't sure how she felt after beating Rock Lee. She and Naruto left the arena in a fine fashion, even slamming the door behind them to add to the effect. Once the young Tasogare had stepped out of the shadow of the large building, and into the light of day, she knew one thing for sure—defeating one of Konoha's most elite genin had made her rather hungry.

"Umm…" The young Tasogare looked sheepishly over at Naruto, "Do you want to go and try another ramen shop? I'm still starving."

"Sure, sounds good." Naruto was still a little quiet, and as they headed to another of Konoha's many ramen shops, Sato felt she should comment on this strange new behavior.

"OK…Naruto, I know I don't know you all that well, but I think I've been around you long enough to get this impression. You usually don't have such few words to say, and I want to know why you're acting all dumb all of a sudden. The first time I met you ya wouldn't shut up and Sakura had to knock you out."

Naruto grinned and rubbed his head, "Yeah that hurt."

"So what's the deal? I'm not moving until you tell me." And Sato stopped dead in the middle of the street, looking sullen. She even crossed her arms over her chest, and stared imperiously at her escort.

Which forced Naruto to actually think about why he wasn't being his normal self. He couldn't outright say that there was something about her that left him tongue tied, so he seriously considered his options, and came up with this crowd pleaser:

"Sasuke's always been able to best me in everything," Here Naruto clenched his fists and scowled, "And then we ran across Lee, who completely thrashed him, it was amazing. Now you come along and beat him without even breaking a sweat…I guess it makes me feel…"

"Low on the food chain?" Sato suggested unhelpfully.

Naruto's scowl grew deeper, "Yeah."

"I know how that feels." Sato murmured. To this Naruto gave a derisive snort.

"I doubt it. Everyone keeps telling me how you could destroy the entire land of fire with one pinky finger if you had a mind to." Naruto held up the finger in question, eyes narrowed as he continued, "Everyone keeps telling me how you're not to be messed with, and everyone keeps telling me—"

"Well for one second listen to what I'm telling you, and now what everyone else keeps telling you! Sato cut in rather heatedly, "I'm powerful enough to take out some of my fellow genin and more than one jonin, but…but…"

Satora faltered, wondering how much she should say. She was torn between having this leaf genin fear her for all the legends and stories he had heard, and setting him straight that she really was as scared and as vulnerable as anyone else.

"But I…I'm not invincable." She finished softly. There. She had said it. The three words that had been chasing each other around in her head were finally out there in the open. Her cell knew it, and so did her sensai but deep down she didn't want to believe it.

_Believe it, princess. There are much bigger fish in this pond than the genin in the selection exams._

A mental picture of Itachi taking off his panda mask suddenly loomed in the girl's imagination, and she repressed a shudder with rather a lot of effort.

"How about that ramen, then?" Naruto said quietly to cover the awkward silence.

Sato heard the doors to the arena open behind her. She didn't feel like taking crap from Neji, getting fawned over by Lee, or receiving frightful glances from Tenten. The young Tasogare grabbed Naruto's wrist and hauled him off.

_**(BREAK!)**_

_**(BREAK)**_

_**(BREAK)**_

After the pair had rounded the corner, Sato let Naruto lead the way again. They were heading towards the eastern part of the city. Naruto was starting to talk a little more now that they were in the busier part of the village. Sato let him chatter. She was still lost in her own thoughts.

Konohagakure was truly the greatest village in the land of fire, or in any other land. It didn't take a genius to figure out that's economic standings were superb—most of the homes here had electricity and running water. It was all so very different then Yoru, small dark and secluded Yorugakure where Sato had spent the majority of her life holed up, just waiting to be unleashed.

Naruto was blathering on about something or other, All Sato had to do to complete the illusion that she was listening was to say, 'yeah' and 'mmhmm' every few seconds, and she was good.

"Here's a good place!" Naruto interrupted himself, and herded Sato into a hard right. Sato recognized the ramen shop—it was the very same place that Makuro had to pull her away from on the way to the academy.

Obviously Naruto was a regular because the instant he sat down at the table out front, there was a hot steaming bowl of ramen in front of his face.

"One for her too, Len!" Naruto said to the young woman serving. The lady wheeled around and took a good look at Sato, and beamed.

"You're that Tasogare everyone keeps talking about! Well then, it's an honor to have you here!"

"An honor?" Satora said blankly, sitting down in the chair opposite her escort. She had been waiting for this woman to shriek and run away rather like the man who had first caught sight of her, "The last ramen shop we went to—"

"I'm fine with you being here as long as you don't kill anyone, and as long as you leave a decent tip!" The woman smiled again, and slipped behind the counter, "I'll get you your bowl in just a sec, dear!"

"She's to young." Sato muttered as Naruto began to slurp loudly.

"What?" Naruto looked confused.

"She's to young to know about…well…she would have been about our age when…it happened so obviously she wouldn't know the full extent of…"

"What the heck are you talking about?" Naruto glanced at her sideways.

"When my family was—I mean—she'd have no way of knowing about…oh never you mind." Sato huffed as Len came back around the counter with another bowl of ramen.

"Alright, dear would you like chopsticks or a spoon?"

"Spoon please." Sato said, dipping her head respectfully to the waitress, still marveling at the fact that she was being called, 'dear'.Sato nodded at Naruto, "I'm buying."

"It's free, smarty!" Naruto laughed, "Everything in Konoha is pretty much free for all the genin in the exam."

"Free ramen?" Sato felt a genuine smile spreading across her face, "This truly is the greatest village in the entire land of Fire!"

With that Sato took her spoon and dove into her ramen. For a few minutes neither of them talked, they were to busy slurping up the goods. After they had finished, Naruto motioned Len to get them another bowl.

"What sort of training have you done for this third part of the exam?" Sato asked conversationally as Len set another two bowls down on their table. Naruto stirred it a little distantly as he considered his answer.

"Well…nothing yet really. What am I gonna do in three days?"

"Listen dude, I came here to use the training grounds that Konoha's got!" Sato snorted, "You're lucky you live in the big city, you get the best of everything. The stuff we've got in Yoru doesn't compare at all to what you have here. I suggest that after we eat we head down to one of your training arenas and get something done today."

"Sure, whatever you say!" Naruto started eating again.

Sato kept talking even though Naruto was immersed in his ramen and probably wasn't listening, "I'm not exactly nervous about the exams…I mean, yeah there'll be some people here that can give me a run for my money, but I can handle any genin. It's when you get out of the genin and more into the elite crap that I get tripped up. Still…it looks like this is going to be a hard exam. Did you hear that since to many cells made if out of the forest of death alive that they have to have preliminary rounds? That's just furthering the agony in my opinion. I love a good fight, but lately I've been getting a little nervous about…" Sato grinned. Naruto wasn't listening, "Good thing you've got ramen in front of your face and aren't paying attention to me else I'd be pretty ashamed at what I'm saying here…"

"What?" Naruto looked up.

"Nothing." Sato grinned again. Her happy mood was returning to her.

"Oh hey!" For the second time that day Naruto saw something over Sato's shoulder and waved. "Look who it is! It's Master Kakashi!"  
Sato whipped around. She had heard lots of things about Kakashi Hatake, but had never actually met him. He was Yoake's good friend, but outside of that she didn't know much about him at all, powers, abilities, or even demeanor.

A tall, lean jonin was walking towards them. He had a shock of white hair and only a sliver of a face showing, and he seemed to be reading a small orange book. Sato distinctly saw him roll his one visible eye when he caught sight of Naruto waving frantically. The man seemed to be fighting the urge to turn around and walk away. Walk away quickly. Sato grinned.

"Hey Naruto." Kakashi said dully, feeling obligated to shuffle over, "getting a lot of training done?"

Sato snorted, and Naruto looked guiltily down at his ramen.

"And well well, who do we have here?" Kakashi peered intently down his nose at Satora, "Everyone's favorite Tasogare…."

"The one and only." Sato said carefully, holding out her hand for the man to shake, "It's nice to meet you, I've heard way to much about you from Yoake."

"Yoake, eh?" Kakashi paused just as he was about to grasp Sato's hand and gave a small chuckle, "Yes…I suppose she would have a lot to say about me. All good things I hope. I have a few stories about her that might make your hair curl…"

Kakashi took her hand, and gripped hers fiercely refusing to let her go. Sato was a little surprised.

"Wha-a—"

Kakashi reached up with his free hand and raised his headband as though it were a panda mast, baring both eyes to the world. In that terrible moment Sato knew the truth. She saw both the blood-red Sharingan flare to life in both the mans eyes, and unexpectedly Sato's world exploded into a thousand little pieces.

It was as though the top of her mind had blown off, all of a sudden she was seeing things that she had no business seeing. Things like the Dream.

She saw them all again, their faces falling into sharp and terrible detail under the light of a blood red moon, The forest was of scarlet, and the sky was the darkest crimson you could ever imagine. Sato stared into the faces her father, her mother, her aunts and her uncles and this time she knew it wasn't the Dream, it was something deeper and more horrible and she didn't know what it was.

Her body was wracked with the visions, and she could feel herself twitching.

The faces and the images spun wildly and Sato found herself on the battlements of Konoha. However this was not a Konoha of the present—it was a bloodstained and shattered Konoha, a Konoha of hell

_Your legacy is written in blood, Satora Tasogare. Born from killers to be a killer. The future is bright, isn't it?_

Bright as shining blood. Sato's gut lurched as the rest of the scene came into focus. Bodies everywhere. First they were unrecognizable, and then they started to become more familiar. Naruto. Sasuke. Lee. Sakura. Makuro. Shinri. Yoake. Kakashi. And then—

Sato's heart leaped to her throat and hovered there along with her lunch—

Her mother. Her father. Everyone she never remembered, everyone that she only saw in the Dream

And then She saw herself.

Sato stared motionless at her own dead corpse, a self that was as broken and as bloody as the rest of her terrible vision.

_"A Tasogare dies many deaths, but Cowardice is the first…"_

Sato whirled, frightened. The voice was coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. Where was the speaker? Rage replaced fear and Sato clenched her fists. _Cowardice…_

Satora heard a scream coming from somewhere, and it took her a second to realize that it was coming from her own mouth. Was it a scream of fury, or a scream of terror? _MAKE IT STOP…_

"Sato…Sato? HEY! Earth to the Tasogare!"

And then as quickly as it had come, the visions and images were gone. Sato was back in Konoha, sweet normal prosperous Konoha. Her own scream was still ringing in her ears, and as she swayed on the spot she saw the crowd that had gathered.

_Let them look at me. I am, after all a Tasogare._

_Or dying. One of the two. _

As darkness closed in on the girl she caught sight of Naruto. His eyes were wide and he looked scared.

Blackness embrassed her like an old friend.

_**(ANOTHER BREAK!**_

_**(ANOTHER BREAK!)**_

"So…in all…not the best first day in Konoha." Shinri said wryly an hour later.

Yoake, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Shinri, and Makuro were all crowded in one of the Blue Moon Inns' tiny rooms, kneeling around the bed where they had laid Satora. Makuro had been the first to arrive on the scene back at the ramen shop. No one had yet asked the genin how he had known about the incident, but no sooner than five seconds after Sato passed out, he was there pushing through the crowd with an anxious Sakura on his heels. Naruto remembered clearly how the linen-clad genin had looked down at the girl prone at his feet, stooped, picked her up tenderly and without further ado sprinted off using long strides.

Naruto remembered this clearly because he knew that he should have been the one to do it.

Even as he sat there at the foot of Satora's bed, watching her fevered slumber he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. Why had it taken him to long to shake out of his reprieve? Why had he stared frozen, transfixed as the girl shuddered and moaned and screamed on the ground? Why hadn't he helped her?

It had taken a strong stream of cursory from Kakashi, a rough push, and a harsh, "GO AFTER THEM!" to actually get him moving. Even then he was stumbling and barely walking straight.

Yoake looked older and more careworn at this moment than she had any right to. Despite still being quite young, she heaved a sigh heavy enough to have come from an old woman on her deathbed. She reached past Sakura, and gently placed a hand on Sato's forehead.

"She's sill burning up," Yoake said calmly, though the look in her eyes contradicted any illusion of peace, "Sakura, go get a washcloth and a bowl and fill it with cool water. We need to bring her temperature down."

"Right." Sakura said smartly, rising immediately.

"I'M ON IT!" Naruto declared, leaping to his feet. He was burning with a strange passion to do _something_ to help his new friend, and it didn't matter how basic or mediocre the task was. Whatever it was he would do to make up for his slip up…

He sped past Sakura and blustered into the room's tiny bathroom and from there proceeded to make as much racket as possible in the process of getting a washcloth and finding a bowl.

Sakura slowly sat down again, "I don't understand what happened. Why did she faint, and why was she screaming bloody murder? Makuro and I could hear her shrieking, and we were on the street over before he started running…"

"My guess is as good as yours." Yoake said wearily.

Shinri and Sasuke had no comment. They all sat for a few seconds in silence while Naruto was making a great din in the next room. The next person to speak was Makuro.

"It was the Sharingan." He said simply and softly

"What do you mean?" Sasuke spoke for the first time since entering the room. He was gazing cautiously at the night genin, sizing him up as though using the word, 'sharingan' was a terrible deed.

"Kakashi's Sharingan." Makuro cleared his throat and continued a little louder, "No one told Sato that he bore it. I think it's rather obvious—the Sharingan is the one thing that can break down a Tasogare, and Sato's never been exposed to it before. Maybe this was a strange way for her powers to respond to the newness of it all."

"You're saying the eye can do that?" Yoake sounded a little skeptical. She looked sideways at Sasuke, "Your mirror-wheel eyes can effect people like that? Without your will or consent?"

Sasuke shrugged, "I've never heard of it happening, but I suppose considering this Tasogare is a special case anything could have come of it."

Makuro didn't like the cool manner that the Uchiha was using to respond to these questions, but he let it go, "I can't pretend that I know all that happened there, but I'm willing to bet Sato saw some flashbacks of the past, and maybe some glimpses into the future."

Shinri snorted. He wasn't going to stand for this, "So now the Tasogare is clairvoyant? What's next, she's got a cure for cancer in her bosom?"

"No….not the future," Makuro corrected himself, as though Shinri had never spoken, "I think it was more of…a nightmare."

"A nightmare." Yoake repeated, sounding skeptical once more.

Makuro shook his head hard, "like I said, I've got no idea what happened. We'll have to wait till her fever goes and she wakes up before we find out. Did you ask Kakashi if anything happened on his end that might give us some clue as to what…well…you know what I mean…"

"No." Yoake rose, "I will find him and do that. All I said for him was to get away in case just being in proximity with Satora was going to set her off again."

"Proximity," Sakura shook her head, "No, if that were true then she would have started…whatever it was she was doing when she laid eyes on him. It's the touch that's important more than the eyes or just being near him."

"I'M BACK!" Naruto announced, racing back into the room slopping water all down his front. He handed the bowl and the washcloth to Sakura, who looked at him as though he had grown two heads. However she accepted the bowl and dipped the cloth in the water and started dabbing at Sato's forehead with it.

"I'm off to grill Kakashi." Yoake said. She still sounded way to calm, as though she were going to explode, "And when I get back I don't want you all at each others throats. There had better not be any dead bodies when I come back, and that includes you, missy!" Yoake pointed a finger sternly at Satora in a feeble attempt at a joke. With that the tall young woman turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

Naruto unexpectedly got up and followed her.

"Yorukage…." He caught up with her just as she placed her hand on the door.

"Yes?" Yoake wheeled around and drilled the boy with a level stare, one eyebrow raised.

"I-I want to come with you."

"Come with me? Are you certain?" Yoake's gaze hardened, and she pulled on jacket, "Why?"

"Because…." Naruto lowered his voice to make sure that his fellow genin in the next room couldn't hear him, "Well…I felt pretty useless when Sato started…you know. I should have done more to help her, I should have helped her up I should have—"

Yoake silenced the flow of words, and placed a soft hand on the boys cheek.

"You did all you could." She said, and Naruto was quite surprised to find tears welling in the woman's clear eyes, "I don't know what I would have done myself, Sato isn't prone to visions and seizures and this sort of thing. Come along if you'd like, then I guess. But be warned…if my suspicions are right about what really happened you'll hate me for letting you come along…"

Naruto dipped his head respectfully, and he and the Yorukage left together.

Back in Sato's room, Sakura was desperately trying to start a lasting conversation that could not be answered with the usual male nod/grunt technique. Really all she wanted to do was prevent the boys from sinking into another sullen silence…

"So…" She said in a falsely cheery tone, "What was everyone doing in Konoha before…umm…before…"

She glanced hopefully at Makuro, her eyes praying that he would finish the sentence for her, but he was most unhelpful when he simply shook his head and then lowered it.

Shinri was even more unhelpful with a flat, "Kuro…I've been meaning to ask you this. What the hell is on your face?"

Makuro looked up, sounding amused, "Oh, this?" He pointed to the mascara on his face, which had smeared a little but was otherwise relatively intact, "I don't know, shall we call it a bad case of acne? People were staring at me even more than normal today because of it, but that's alright."

"Mmhmm…" Shinri rolled his eyes.

Sakura blushed a little. She wrung out the washcloth, dunked it in the bowl of water, and then reapplied it to Sato's forehead. There wasn't much else they could do for the girl at this point, unless they were to drag her all the way to the bathroom and give her a cold shower. That would certainly lower her temperature significantly, but Sato wasn't sure the boys would be up to it.

"I say we just let her sleep it off." Shinri suggested, his cold and calculating gaze drifting over Sato, "It's not like we can wave a magic wand and make it all go away."

It was as though the snake-nin had read her mind, and Sakura didn't like that feeling at all. In fact, she found that she was disliking Shinri more and more with each and every comment he was making. It wasn't going to be long before she would smack him over the head hard, even if it was the last thing she would ever do. Sakura had a feeling that Shinri would simple kill her if she tried to get him to lighten up a shade.

"Shinri's got a point." Sakura was flabbergasted when Makuro agreed with the snake-nin, "If she were wounded, that would be another thing—and her chakra would just take care of that. Right now she just needs some rest."

"Then I'm out." Shinri said at once, rising, "And Sasuke can have off as well, him being my escort and all. I'm only going to my room next door. He can see me there if he so chooses."

"Sakura, you'll stay with her wont you?" Sasuke stood up as well, looking at her from beneath his dark hair, "I should get going…"

"And where are you off to, then?" Sakura asked, eyes narrowed

She wasn't at all surprised when Sasuke didn't answer. He and Shinri left rather abruptly, the door snapping shut behind them.

Sakura had to grin when she took a look at Makuro, "You really should go wash that mascara off Kuro. It's starting to look quite…quite…well….umm…"

"And I was just starting to get used to it, too!" Kuro said mildly. He rose as well.

"O-oh, are you leaving too?" Sakura tried hard to keep the raw disappointment out of her voice, "After you wash up? I-I mean you can if you want to of course, B-but I mean…."

"No, I don't think so. Sato needs me." Kuro nodded his head, "I'm just going to wash this stuff off…you didn't use waterproof stuff on me, did you? I'd have to kill you if you did."

This last comment was presented quite seriously. Sakura smiled thinly, because she knew Makuro probably wasn't the type to wave that sort of threat around without meaning it, "No you'll have no problem washing it off."

"Let me know if she wakes up." Kuro walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Sakura sighed and brushed a stray lock of hair out of the young Tasogare's pretty face and muttered grimly, "Oh, believe me Makuro. You will be the first to know."


	27. And another surprise visit

"Stay close, Naruto." Yoake said shortly as she and her young charge stepped out onto the street. The woman set off east at a brisk pace, throwing occasional glances behind as her as though to shake off pursuers.

Yoake seemed to know where she was going. Naruto hurried to keep up—the Yorukage was in a rush to get somewhere, that was for sure/

"What do you think happened, Yorukage?"

"Me?" Yoake breathed, walking still faster, "I think that if I'm right, Konoha may well be doomed before the first shuriken is even thrown…"

"What do you mean?" Quite shocked at this statement, Naruto ground to a halt but quickly trotted after the woman, sure that she was going to leave her behind in her pacing, "Yorukage! Wait!"

"We don't have time to wait!" Yoake's voice sounded strained, "If I am right—"

Yoake cursed and broke into a run. Now totally bewildered, Naruto followed. The pair of them dashed through the busiest part of the village and were soon in the outskirts of the city, right next to the wall that penned in its people. At long last Yoake gave a great cry of relief, and nearly tackled to the ground Kakashi Hatake, who had been looking at a collection of magazines with questionable content.

"_KAKASHI!_" Yoake almost hugged the man, "Am I glad to see you!"

Kakashi now looked as surprised and out of the loop as Naruto. He looked bemused over at the genin, but Naruto merely shrugged.

"Nice to see you too, Yoake. What's just happened?"

The look in Yoake's eyes was both triumphant and scared, "You mean to say you were not just on the other side of town, and you mean to say that you did not shake Satora Tasogare's hand at a ramen shop and you mean to say that you were not just talking to me outside her room at he Blue Moon Inn?"

Kakashi was now looking at Yoake as though he feared for her sanity, "Yoake…I think you need to lie down…"

"No, I think we all need to march over to the Hokage's office and tell him this—" Yoake looked over her shoulder again, and beckoned Naruto and Kakashi in. They obeyed, both still looking confused.

Once she was sure they were the only two within earshot, Yoake let the bomb drop.

" Naruto, the Kakashi you saw back there was probably the most clever genjutu you will ever have the misfortune of seeing ever again…I think that the person Sato was really talking to was none other than Itachi Uchiha."

While Naruto was still gawping, Kakashi's demeanor turned very sharp.

"What did he do?"

"The instant, apparently that he touched her hand she went into spasms or some sort of vision. I'm not sure all that happened, but I'm sure Naruto, Itachi, or Satora herself could tell you."

As though on cue, Yoake and Kakashi turned as one and drilled Naruto with a stare that seemed to say, "_Weeeelll????"_

Naruto hastily cleared his throat and staggered through his version of what had happened, shamed once more that he hadn't been able to spot the illusion.

"We were eating Ramen at that little ramen shop on the corner of main street and eighth…and then over Sato's shoulder I saw Kakashi sensai coming. Er-at least I thought it was Kakashi sensai. He had your little book and everything…um…anyways he came over and introduced himself to Sato…shook her hand…and then she went nuts, screaming and moaning and twitching and…" Naruto let his voice trail off. He could not go on.

Yoake reached forward, and gripped Naruto very hard on his shoulders and shook slightly, "Did anything happen after he touched her hand and before she started, 'going nuts'? Think hard now…this is important…"

Naruto screwed his eyes shut and thought hard, just as he had been ordered, "I can't…I mean I don't…"

He opened his eyes, "Yes, I remember. He raised his headband a little."

Yoake and Kakashi both made noises of comprehension saying, "AHA!" very loudly. Yoake released Naruto and looked over at her old friend and at once they both started piecing together what had happened, finishing each others sentences like giddy schoolgirls.

"Itachi was here in the city on either his own whim or the leader's orders—"

"Thought what better way to strike at Sato than through someone she's never met—"

"Grabbed Sato's hand so she couldn't let go—"

"Then used his Sharingan on her—"

"No-it must have been the Tsukuyomi…"

Yoake looked stricken, "Do you think that works on Sato?"

Kakashi shrugged, "you tell me."

Yoake snorted, "I've never tested it, so I wouldn't know. I don't see why Itachi would use that now on his second meeting with the girl, he could have easily used it on her the first time they met--in the forest—"

"_WHAT?" _No one paid attention to Naruto's cry of disbelief.

"So then we can only assume that he used his eyes on her, and her Tasogare powers sent her into that spiral? Well that doesn't make sense either."

"None of it makes sense. What if Itachi didn't expect it to happen? What if he's sitting somewhere with a burned hand, wondering how in the world he got shaken off from his prey?"

Yoake carefully considered this option, "I suppose that's possible as well…"

"Hey guys?" Naruto tugged on Yoake's sleeve, and pointed over both their shoulders, "You could just ask him…"

Yoake and Kakashi whirled around, looking for black and red robes, but all they saw was another Kakashi Hatake walking nonchalantly down the road towards them. Yes, Itachi's genjutsu was more complete and had probably fooled more people than he could even know. Yoake felt her heart jump into her throat, and found it hard to swallow/

"_Naruto get behind us." _She ordered swiftly. The young woman drew a fistful of Sharingan from the depths of her robe, knowing deep inside that nothing she could do would work—

"I have a message for you…"

The other Kakashi ground to a halt about ten feet away from where the real one, Yoake, and Naruto were all crouched, ready for battle. Itachi looked bored in his guise and seemed to want to get this over as quickly as possible, "It's from the leader, concerning Satora Tasogare. He just wants to remind you to keep his goods unscathed in the coming exam…"

"_Unscathed?"_ Yoake said hotly, eyes blazing, "You come flouncing in, grab her hand and make her pass out to keep her _unscathed????_"

"I'm quite certain you know what I mean, Yoake." Itachi said coolly, "I guess you'll have to wait and see what the lovely side effect of our little meeting was…or do you know already? Has she waken up and told you yet?"

Yoake was practically trembling with rage, and so was Naruto.

"Hey listen you rat!" He shouted, stepping out from behind Yoake and Kakashi. He pointed a short stubby finger in Itachi's direction, "I've got no idea who you are or who you're working for, but let's get one thing straight. If you mess with Satora, you mess with me. If you mess with me…man you've got something big coming!"

And then all of a sudden Itachi wasn't there. Naruto blinked and looked surprised while Yoake and Kakashi rounded on him, looked murderous.

"Naruto you—"

All at once Itachi was there again, but this time he was behind Naruto, with a kunai at his throat and a few whispered words in his ear.

"You don't know what you're dealing with here, kid. Or _who, _for that matter." The kunai dug in a little deeper, "My advice to you is stay out of this before it really starts to get bloody. Kakashi…Yoake…nice seeing you both…"

There was a puff of suffocating smoke, and the Kakashi clone was gone.

"_NARUTO!_" Yoake's resemblance to Sakura was startling as she boxed him soundly in the ears, "You fool! You blasted, bloody, brave, fool!"

"That was Itachi Uchiha." Kakashi said, jamming his hands in his pockets and refusing to look scared, "He's the one that Sasuke wants to kill, and he's the one that killed the entire Uchiha clan, and you jut called him a rat."

"I don't care, he doesn't scare me." Naruto growled, and that enough was true. There was no fear in his heart at the moment, only anger. So Itachi must have been the one to cause Sato to doubt herself so much. Naruto put two and two together…Sato's vague reference to something that had scared her in the forest of death, and Yoake's offhand statement that Itachi had indeed had a run-in with the Tasogare…

"Sensai, what was Itachi talking about when he mentioned side effects?" Naruto asked Kakashi curiously.

"I don't know." Kakashi glanced over at Yoake, "But…"

"We need to inform the Hokage about this at once." Yoake snapped, striding forward, "Konoha's defenses need to be redoubled…"

"What for?" Kakashi threw his hands in the air. Yoake wheeled around, "Itachi and the other members of the Akatsuki are only after your cell, they wont kill any civilians. They can't afford and dead bodies yet, and they know it. No one else in the village is in danger except—"

Kakashi stopped, finally aware of what he was saying. Yoake looked furious, but when she spoke her voice was full of forced calm.

"I know, Kakashi. My genin are the ones being targeted by some of the most dangerous missing-nin in the entire world, but that's ok. They can take care of themselves." Now Naruto could hear the sarcasm, "In the meanwhile The Hokage would love to hear your brilliantly said excuse as to why you didn't report the presence of Konoha's most wanted ninja to him immediately."

And she stalked off.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto glanced over at Kakashi.

"The wrath of a woman scorned." The man muttered, shaking his head and sighing.


	28. Deeper and More Terrible

Itachi and Kisame were two of the Akatsuki's most important members, deep in the organizations inner circle. They were the only two members that had ever been in a meeting face to face with the leader.

While Kisame considered this a great honor, Itachi found it rather trying and unnecessary. While the other members of the Akatsuki only had to communicate by limited telepathy with their leader, or by holographic messages, he and his partner had to drag themselves all the way to the other side of the country to speak with him face to face.

The term 'face to face' was rather loose. The leader wore a long cloak that covered every inch of his body, including his head (which was hidden by a large hood) Now as Itachi stood next to his partner in front of the man, the Uchiha found himself wondering if it was more lack of trust that brought the leader to summon them more than trust.

And right now the Leader was very angry. Itachi had just informed him of what had happened before and after he had delivered his message.

He rose slowly from his chair at the head of the long black table, and advanced on Itachi, "_You've killed her_?"

The rage in his voice was terrible, but rather than humble Itachi it made his hackles rise.

"No, I'm not a fool." Itachi snapped, and while Kisame had the sense to step back, Itachi felt his hands forming fists, "Of course I haven't killed her! She simply passed out, I made sure of it before I left the scene."

"Where is she?" The leader demanded in a terrible voice. This time Itachi did not reply. He was getting a feeling that he was missing a piece to a larger puzzle…and he was in it so deep already he didn't even bother to answer.

"In Konoha." Kisame answered respectfully for his partner, shooting the man a warning glance, "Not a scratch on her. She'll wake up a little groggy, but she'll be alright before the preliminaries begin…"

"Good." The leader whirled and seated himself once more.

"Why do you need her so badly?" Itachi asked, narrowing his eyes, "Why are you so particular about her being kept perfectly safe? You nearly croaked the last time I dared to touch her, and now you're so mad you might explode. We can continue in our operation with any other Shinobi with the same skill level as the Tasogare…"

"You don't get it, Uchiha." The leader snarled, rounding once more, "There IS no one else with her skill level!"  
Itachi bit back a retort, and glanced sideways at Kisame, who helpfully volunteered, "The Uzamaki boy—"

"No...No…" The leader shook his head and raised a hand to stop Kisame's speech, "It's no contest, Kisame. It's got to be Sato. I'm not speaking about brute force here in the girl, I'm talking about a deeper power, a power greater and more terrible than you both could either comprehend, much less control."

Neither of the men had a reply to this.

"When it comes to true power, Itachi, you are fairly low on the food chain," The leader said in a voice of forced calm, folding his black gloved hands in front of him on the table, "Despite whatever you illusions you have…"

Itachi curled his lip. Long had he served the leader of the Akatsuki without irk or without question without once seeing why he was at the top. At first it had only been Hiden who had shown the Leader open disrespect…but now Itachi was starting to see where Hiden was coming from. Kisame had been in the organization longer than his partner, and could not attest to any powers that the Leader had.

So perhaps now was the best time to turn the tables. The leader looked up and seemed not at all surprised when he caught sight of the twin Sharingan staring back at him.

"_Itachi what are you doing?" _ Kisame snarled, baring his teeth

"Shame on you, Itachi." The Leader shook his head, "I was expecting this far sooner. But then again…you never really liked to be predictable…"

Itachi made no reply. Kisame looked outraged.

_"What are you doing?" _The shark-nin repeated urgently.

"You'll find your eyes won't scare me Itachi Uchiha…" The Leader said in that same terrible voice, advancing slowly on the scarlet eyed-nin, "Quite a revelation, isn't it? So...look at me and tell me what you see…"

The leader pulled of his hood and let it fall around his neck.

Kisame gave a yell of shock, and Itachi staggered back, fear etched all over his dark features, "No-it can't be. You're dead. W-What? I don't understand…"

"I'm dead, eh?" The Leader smiled wanly, and pulled his hood back up to hide his face, "Funny…you'd think I stopped walking around…"

"How can you be back?" Kisame whispered, "It doesn't make sense…I saw you there that night…I was with Yoake when they…I… your body…you were dead…"

"It makes perfect sense, Kisame." Satoshi Tasogare said conversationally, that mad grin still on his rugged features. He raised his hood again shrouding his features in shadow once more, "_A Tasogare dies many deaths…"_


	29. Resolved

Satora awoke with an almighty scream, a scream fraught with terrible pain. She bolted straight up in her bed, and Sakura went flying across the room in search of cover, not to be outdone in the panicked screams department. Makuro came slamming into the room mere seconds after all the screaming had began, wild, and saw Satora sitting up quite alive and well, if not a extremely upset.

"_SATO!" _Kuro exclaimed, rushing to her side. (After first making sure Sakura was alright), "Are you well?"

The girl opened her mouth as though to consider her response, and then without another word she sunk back onto the pillows.

Alarmed, Makuro peered closer at his friend, and saw that she had just laid her head back down. No doubt her head was still throbbing a little from the wracking it had undergone.

"My head feels like its being stabbed by a hundred million little needles, Kuro." Sato whispered, eyes wide. Sakura picked herself up off the floor, and also came over to see if Sato was okay, "Oh Makuro, Makuro what happened to me?"

"We were hoping you could tell us." Sakura looked anxious, "Makuro and I were on the street over when we first heard your scream. You had just met Kakashi sensai, and then—"

Abruptly the terrible memories the vision had brought her fell into Sato's mind like a brick. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a few seconds, forcing herself to sift through what had happened in order to—

"Kakashi isn't an Uchiha, is he?" Sato asked quietly.

"No, of course he isn't." Kuro looked surprised, "He has one Sharingan eye, however but—"

"No, I saw two!" Sato said stubbornly, her brow creasing as she remembered, "He blinked and then there were two…and then I was gone…gone into a place of….nightmares…I don't know…"

Kuro glanced over at Sakura, who shook her head so hard that her pink hair flopped about her face, "No, he only has one Sharingan eye. I'm quite certain of it. in fact I know its true. He was my sensai, you have to remember."

"I know what I saw!" Sato said heatedly, "He had two!"

A small possibility formed in Makuro's mind, and he knew it was the only reason Sato's story could be true. However, if his theory were true it meant that once more, they were all in grave danger…

"Satora…" Makuro said quietly, "Do you think it could have been Itachi under a genjutsu?"

The look on Sato's face registered such complete and total shock, and then fear that Makuro cursed himself for even mentioning it.

"It's just a thought—" Makuro tried swiftly, "—I could be totally wrong of course…"

Sato knew that Makuro was never totally wrong, or even half wrong or three quarters wrong. She knew that if it was Makuro's theory then his iron-clad logic was probably right. No, not probably. Defiantly and without a doubt.

It must have been Itachi.

A cold chill swept up and down Satora's stomach, and for one horrible second she had thought she was going to be sick—that was yet another time that he had touched her. Albeit a handshake, he had still got through her defenses and trampled on her spirit. How did he keep doing it?

Sakura was looking totally bewildered, "Whose Itachi?"

_He's trying to scare me. He's trying to break me down into a weak little pulp before any of the heavy stuff starts. They know, they know. _Sato bared her teeth as she felt that same swooping feeling in her gut return, _I wont let Itachi bully me around anymore. The next time that I see him…I'll recognize him and I'll kill him. Dead._

Sato sat up again, and swung her legs out over the bed, dropping lightly to the floor. She gave her head a vigorous shake, and swiftly retied her hair.

"Well, lets get going then, shall we?" She said, her voice strong with resolve.

"Umm…" Makuro blinked, "Where? What? Sato I think you should stay here until Yoake went back…she went off with Naruto to go find Kakashi and ask him what happened…"

"Kakashi wasn't there, was he?" Sato's eyes were blazing. Still just the smallest buit unsteady on her feet, she went into the next room and collected her hitai-ate and her sweatshirt, "Come along, lets go!"

"Satora!" Sakura sounded bemused, "Where are we going?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sato rolled her eyes and was halfway out the door, "We've all got to train for the exam, silly! They're only two days away!"

And with that she was gone, slamming the door hard behind her. Once more Sakura glanced questioningly over at her linen-clad friend.

"One second she's out cold, the next she's up and rearing to go?"

"Yeah I don't get her either." Makuro muttered, "Come on we'd best find her before she rips the village gates off and carries them back to Yoru as trophies…"


End file.
